Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Could the Prime Minister outline his plans to guarantee food security to First Nations communities during the coronavirus crisis, especially in remote communities in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and northern Queensland?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. As I indicated before, there's some $123 million of support which is going in to support Indigenous communities. One of the very pleasing elements of the payments that the Minister for Government Services has outlined is that when those payments have come through in Indigenous communities there has been a very large purchase of food in those communities, and that is fantastic. We were so pleased, and I want to thank everyone who was involved, including the member for Barton, for the messaging that was going into Indigenous communities about how those payments might be used in those circumstances, and this was a tremendous result.

Obviously in the town stores, as a result of that, there have been some supply shortages going to those communities, and I know the Minister for Indigenous Affairs is working directly with the executive chair of the COVID commission, Neville Power, to ensure that those supply lines of those food stocks going back into those communities are being refreshed as we speak. That is one of the key tasks of the coordination commission. They are a group of very successful, very practical problem-solving people from the private sector who are able to work through logistics issues, including food supply chain issues. Working out of the Department of Home Affairs, Paul Grigson, who's the deputy secretary there, is leading a team that is also working on the supply chain issues, getting supplies of food not just to remote Indigenous communities but also to rural communities and regional communities. So we're restocking and supplying our shopping centres and supermarkets not just in the cities but right across the country.

Another key issue we're working on at the moment is that they're supplying not just the big supermarkets in the big shopping centres but the corner stores as well. When we want people to stay at home and only go out for what they need, we don't want them to have to go too far. In remote Indigenous communities, they have no choice, and I want to commend Chief Minister Gunner for the great job he's doing in the Northern Territory in securing these communities. But getting food to them is an important task, and I can assure the member that the COVID commission, working together with the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, is making sure, with the chief ministers and premiers in those states, that these supply lines are being replenished and that that support will be in place for those communities.

Of all the issues we discuss at the national cabinet, I want to assure the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians that our biggest concern, of all the vulnerable communities in Australia, is for Indigenous communities. Recently I spoke with Prime Minister Trudeau, and it's a similar issue in Canada and the remote indigenous communities in Canada. We had a very good discussion about it, and we are employing very similar measures to protect and insulate those communities but also maintain supply of supports to them—not just food but essential services as well, whether it be education or health or, indeed, protection from violence for people in those communities. So I thank the member for her question. I know the Minister for Indigenous Australians will be happy to keep her updated on that matter on a regular basis.