Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today the National Party consigned themselves to the past and to infamy. It was right up there with my first day in parliament, when the member for Dickson walked out on the apology to the stolen generations. Today, the Nationals stood as one and said no to a voice to parliament for First Nations people. The Leader of the Nationals has the hide to stand up and say that they believe in empowering local Indigenous communities, when they did nothing for the 10 years they were in government. This is a party whose former leader proclaimed after the Wik decision that they would make laws to extinguish native title as much as they could. When they were in government they forced people in remote communities onto the cashless debit card. How is this empowering them?

I spent the weekend out at St George, my home town, for my 40th high school reunion, and I can tell you that local people in the bush are ready to hear the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice delivered. First Nations people and white people out in the bush are ready for the Voice to Parliament. The Nationals are an anachronism. They have no relevance to the bush anymore. There are no farmers left in the National and there's no connection with the bush anymore.

The Nationals should be ashamed of themselves. I thought that the leader, the member from south-west Queensland, would be more in tune with the people, but he is so disconnected from the bush that he should be ashamed of himself. The leader of the LNP in Queensland should be ashamed as well.