Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Carr. Action—I am glad you understand what that actually means. Of course, she changed her mind the next week. She said she was going to the summit and then she said she was not going to the summit. Suddenly she said, ‘No summit.’ So we have ‘Turnaround Martin’. It is all right, Senator Carr, you would understand this: let us have a 20-year plan, something that comes from the back blocks of Jurassic Park in the Soviet Union. That is where that sort of stuff comes from. Let us have a 20-year plan. Nothing changes in 20 years, Mr Deputy President, according to those on the other side, and that is why they are a completely policy-free area on Indigenous affairs.

Of course, we are not sure what the plan will consist of—probably more of what we have got from the other side—but I would hope not. They say: ‘If you break your house, if you don’t look after it, if you bash it, if you have a riot or you destroy it, we’ll just build you a new one.’ It is all part of the same welfare mentality that has brought Indigenous Australians to such terrible circumstances.

I can tell you that people are sick of listening to all of those arguments that we have from fundamentalists on the other side. We cannot go and do the same thing and expect a different outcome. Those days are over. This government is about action and about changing the lot of Indigenous Australians. Clare wants to discuss which way we want to go. We do not need a 20-year plan. We actually know what needs to be done now. What we need, Clare, is action. I know what Indigenous Territorians have told me throughout time. They are like every other Australian. There is no difference at all. They simply want to be able to buy their own homes and have a good education. They want some safety in their communities. They want some employment. Also, again, there is the fundamental issue of simply having a bit of hope.