Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today marks a sombre but important occasion—a day that reminds us to reflect on the past of this country, examine the present and look to the future for what we as a society should be and what we can be. It's an important day—a day for reflecting on our nation's brutal and dark history and for acknowledging the pain that has occurred and is still occurring. It is a day for transformation and for committing to doing better and being better as a country. Of course, 13 February is the anniversary of the day in 2008 when the then Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, issued his apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to the stolen generations—people whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation. It is a time that is a stain on our country and one we can't ignore—one that we must acknowledge and commit to never letting happen again.

I, like so many Australians, remember that day very well. It was a watershed moment. I remember being on the lawns in front of Parliament House. At the time, I was working at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, and I stood proudly on the lawns with my colleagues from the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives. We stood there listening to those amazing words—those moving words, those important words—from Kevin Rudd. There were tears. There was relief. There was joy. There were lots of hugs.

At this morning's Sorry Day breakfast, the Prime Minister reflected on how, when we first apologised for the atrocities inflicted upon our First Nations people, we collectively became a better country, a country ready to take the next step to moving forward. Just as we acknowledged that history in 2008, today we commit to being a better country for now and into the future.

Earlier this week, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, tabled the Closing the gap annual report and implementation plan. As the minister said, and as our Prime Minister reiterated, the National Agreement on Closing the Gap is a landmark partnership. It brings together all levels of Australian governments and the Coalition of Peaks. It's an agreement that not only prioritises the government's deep partnership with Indigenous Australians and their organisations through the Coalition of Peaks but is one for all Australians, all political parties, all communities, all businesses and all schools. I thank the First Nations leaders who are working with the government on closing the gap. I particularly acknowledge the amazing Pat Turner, the lead convener and co-chair of the Joint Council on Closing the Gap.

We know that, when policies and programs are created and delivered in partnership, when the community controlled sector is strengthened, when mainstream institutions are transformed and when data and information are shared with community, we see real positive changes in the lives of First Nations Australians. This is the key for transformation and for closing the gap. Our annual report and implementation plan show the progress made across the government and detail our plan in the priority areas of economic empowerment, cost of living, mental health and wellbeing, and giving our children the best start in life, health, education and housing.

In 2024, I had the immense honour of being appointed the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health. It's not a role that I take lightly. I'm absolutely honoured to continue the work that Minister McCarthy undertook in this portfolio, and I'm privileged to continue to work with her in her new role as the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, an important portfolio. We also thank Linda Burney for all her incredible work in that portfolio. From the get-go, my approach to this role has been listening to First Nations people. It's why I've travelled across the country to meet with communities from Brisbane to Perth, Badu Island to Naarm and the Torres Strait to Adelaide.

I had the great privilege of travelling to the Torres Strait, to Badu Island, where we announced that we would have four dialysis chairs there for that community. We had an amazing meeting. This is a tiny island, with 2,000 to 4,000 people, very close to Papua New Guinea, very remote and in dire need of dialysis chairs. Without those chairs, the people on Badu Island have to go to Thursday Island for treatment. Many have to say goodbye to their communities because they know that they will not return. It's a very sad thing when they have to leave the island simply to get health care. So one of the areas I'm particularly proud of is providing community controlled health care in the communities where people live and they can stay with their families.

We are particularly proud of strengthening the community controlled sector. When the Albanese Labor government came into office we committed to strengthening the community controlled sector. We know that we get better outcomes when we work in genuine partnership with the people on the ground who know their communities so well. One of the key pieces of feedback we received from the sector was the need for long-term, sustainable and flexible funding to ensure that ACCHOs can focus on their core business of delivering culturally appropriate high-quality care to First Nations people across the country. From July 2024 we were proud to invest an initial $300 million to implement rolling funding agreements to provide certainty and flexibility for ACCHOs, bringing the total ACCHO investment under the Indigenous Australians' Health Program to $2.7 billion.

What we know now that our forefathers did not acknowledge is that First Nations people are more likely to achieve better health outcomes when they receive health care from First Nations led organisations rather than from non-First-Nations-led organisations. Take, for instance, birthing on country. For thousands of years First Nations women have given birth on country, surrounded by culture, knowledge and community. Birthing on country is not just a health practice; it's a sacred connection to land, ancestors and identity for many. When First Nations women lead their own maternal care, we see better health outcomes. In fact, we've seen evidence that birthing on country leads to increased attendance at prenatal check-ups, higher rates of smoking cessation, the reduced likelihood of preterm births and greater rates of exclusive breastfeeding upon hospital discharge. The practice of forcing women to leave community security and home, often for environments that have felt unsafe, is disempowering and wrong. We also know that hospitals, like many other government run facilities, were a place where babies were stolen. It will take generations for our nation to rebuild that trust. It the responsibility of all of us to ensure First Nations women have choice and control over their health care and that culturally safe options are available. Today we acknowledge that progress has been achieved, mostly led by First Nations Australians, and that there is continuing work that must be done.

On National Sorry Day I want to add my voice to the millions of others and say, on behalf of our government and ancestors, I am deeply, deeply sorry. I acknowledge that, while no words will ever be enough to rectify the pain that has been caused, we must always endeavour to mend the pain in any way possible—not just through words but through actions too. I thank everyone who fought for the national apology, many who are from the stolen generations themselves and who are still with us here today. We heard a number of their testimonies this morning at the breakfast here in this house. It was extremely moving. Their goodwill to continue to come to this house, to continue to work with the Australian people and to continue to work with the government to do more to repair the past wrongs is extremely generous. We want to do more, we will do more and we must do more.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The stolen generations are a tragic and absolutely shameful chapter in the history of Australia—one that has left deep, lasting scars on Indigenous communities. Today is an important day to reflect on these policies of our country and the impact that they've had on First Nations Australians. The apology to the stolen generations was 17 years ago today, when former prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised to those stolen from their families. Today is a reminder of the deep injustices that have been done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and an urgent call for action. It is a reminder that the legacy of those policies continues to shape the lives of First Nations people in Australia today.

We continue to listen to those stories, and we know that the hurt will never go away—children separated from their parents, forced to live in institutions or foster homes where they were stripped of their languages, traditions and identities, a most wicked breaking of the most sacred bonds between parents and children and families. Many were then subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse and faced ongoing neglect. For many, this loss of connection with family, culture and country has had intergenerational impacts affecting not only those directly involved but also future generations. The pain caused by the removal of children has reverberated throughout communities, creating a cycle of loss that continues today.

This morning, I was privileged to attend the stolen generations breakfast here in the parliament and to hear from stolen generations survivors of the impacts that this has had on them. It is incredibly generous, beyond words, that these people are willing to come into this place and share those stories and that they do so to see us move forward—to see us address the hurt that was caused and to continue to move forward in reconciliation and in closing the gap. Listening to their voices and providing opportunities for them to share the stories is an important step in the healing process. It is through these stories that the full extent of the trauma can be understood.

I'm proud that our government will always continue to listen to First Nations Australians. Obviously, in 2023 we held a referendum, and we didn't get the result that we wanted or that the majority of First Nations Australians wanted. But the Prime Minister this morning addressed the stolen generations breakfast, and he said that he will always be there as long as he is Prime Minister, because it is such an important event. He talked about the referendum, and he said that, while it obviously was not the result that we wanted and that that has caused harm to many in the community, he doesn't regret wanting to enlarge our nation, because that's why we are here and, as he said, we will get there. The arc of history bends towards justice, as Martin Luther King said. While, obviously, that proposal for the Voice to Parliament was rejected by the Australian people, and we respect that result, we are a government that will always listen to First Nations people and look to them for the ways in which we will close the gap and walk together in reconciliation.

An important part of that is that earlier this week, on Monday, we had the Closing the Gap statement and report. Since the apology, this has been an important process of looking at these terrible gaps that continue between First Nations and other Australians, and there is always more work to be done. This is front of mind for our government and always will be front of mind for the Labor Party.

One of the particularly regrettable and terrible parts of the gap is the high rates of out-of-home care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children that currently exist and continue. Here in the ACT, we actually have some of the highest rates. This is something we must address because it continues the trauma for those families and the breaking down of connections between families, communities, country and culture. We need to do better to address this. That is why we set up a First Nations children's commissioner, the first in this country. We want to make sure that that commissioner is watching out for First Nations children around Australia.

We are working with peak bodies through the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. This is a landmark partnership with First Nations groups across Australia. Earlier this week, the government released the Commonwealth closing the gap 2024 annual report and 2025 implementation plan. It outlines the actions that the Albanese government has taken over the past year to deliver on the outcomes of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Its focus is on creating jobs and economic empowerment for remote communities, easing housing overcrowding and improving safety. The 2025 implementation plan outlines our strategy for the year ahead, focusing on easing cost-of-living pressures and improving food security in remote communities, delivering the next steps of our economic empowerment agenda and continuing to improve outcomes for First Nations people.

We will invest in a range of new measures. We will extend the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme for an additional two years to support stolen generation survivors. This is an incredibly important measure, particularly for my community as a part of the ACT. We are improving the health of First Nations people in regional and remote Australia by improving food security across those regions, including reducing the cost of 30 essential products in more than 76 remote stores to help ease cost-of-living pressures and improve access to quality food for people in remote communities. We will build a nutrition workforce in remote communities by upskilling up to 120 local First Nations staff in remote stores. We will roll out new laundries or upgrade existing facilities to 12 remote First Nations communities to help improve long-term health outcomes. We will strengthen the Indigenous procurement policy to boost opportunities for First Nations businesses to grow and create jobs. We will boost the Indigenous Business Australia's home loan capital fund and establish a place based business coaching and mentoring program for First Nations business women and entrepreneurs. We will increase the availability of culturally safe and qualified mental health support, including scholarships for up to 150 First Nations psychology students. We will continue to deliver critical early intervention and response services to address family, domestic and sexual violence in high-need First Nations communities. We will continue the digitisation of at-risk audio and video collections held by First Nations broadcasters and community organisations by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator McCarthy, has been working on food security throughout her career. She is committed to ensuring that remote Indigenous communities have regular and quality access to food, and she is making sure that Indigenous communities do not pay these high prices. I want to commend Senator McCarthy on the work that she is doing for Closing the Gap. In my first term as the secretary of the First Nations Caucus Committee, I had the privilege of working closely with Senator McCarthy, the member for Barton—Linda Burney—and Senator Pat Dodson on many issues and bringing to the forefront our considerations the impacts on First Nations communities. It was such a privilege to work with those leaders.

I'll take this opportunity on what may be the last day of parliament to acknowledge the member for Barton and former Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, for the incredible contribution she has made over many years. She is, I believe, one of the greatest leaders our country will see. When I think of Linda, the words that come to mind are 'grace' and 'strength', which she showed in an almost unfathomable way when confronted with some of the ugliest parts of Australian politics. I thank her for her contribution. We will miss her in this place, but I know that she will continue to contribute.

On this day, as we reflect on the anniversary and on the apology, may we always continue to listen to First Nations Australians and work together for a country that is truly one and truly enlarged.

Debate adjourned.