Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ten years ago in this place I watched the apology on the TV. We talked about the stolen generation. My parents watched it as people who had worked with Indigenous people in the seventies, when they had little more than a tin shed to live in in Carnarvon and then Onslow in Western Australia. My community is very keen to do more than just say sorry. They're keen to roll up their sleeves and make outcomes happen. If you come to Mildura and walk down the river, you don't see people sitting around drinking cans on the river. You see job opportunities and a community that's very proactive.

Over time, Sunraysia Regional Consulting has got $1.7 million from the federal government to work with people to ensure that they have employment. Also, the MADEC has got $4.4 million from the federal government to work with kids from years 7, 8 and 9 to keep them engaged in education so they can also move onto gainful employment. We see with our Indigenous people in my community that if they can get a qualification, a trade, a university degree or a diploma, they go from having less job opportunities to having more job opportunities. Whilst we commemorate today, 10 years since the apology, our community is doing real work to improve the lives of Indigenous people in our towns and we'll keep working at it.