David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to commence by congratulating Senator Bartlett. I say to all senators in this chamber, and particularly Senator Bartlett, that when any member of the Senate wants to raise an issue in the tenor that he has used then I for one want to speak on the subject and participate in the debate, because it is a vitally important subject.

But the fact is that Senator Bartlett only got halfway. We had the hand-wringing of Senator Bartlett, and we just heard Senator Carr. But the problem is that when you have young children being violently physically and sexually abused, you cannot sit back and say, ‘Let’s have a bipartisan approach.’ There has to be action. Under our Constitution there is only one organisation responsible for the administration of Aboriginal communities in the states, and that is state governments. Police, health, alcohol abuse, petrol sniffing and drugs are matters for the states. Every time I go home to Western Australia I get belted up by the state government saying I am not standing up for WA. The fact is that the WA government—and I will have the proof here in one moment—has lost the plot when it comes to the administration of Aboriginal affairs inside its state boundaries. Let us look at towns and communities. Blackstone, Wingellina, Warburton, Meekatharra, Leonora, Laverton, Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie, Norseman, Carnarvon, Geraldton—all these towns are administered by state governments. The people on the ground are employed by state governments.

In the very short time I have I want to put one issue to the Senate. In 2002 a very learned jurist, an Aboriginal woman, Mrs Gordon, handed down an inquiry. It showed:

Endemic family violence and sexual abuse in Western Australian Aboriginal communities was a “human tragedy that was nothing short of a national disaster”.

And those are the words of the then premier, Geoff Gallop.

A landmark $1 million, six-month inquiry has found the incidence of violence and child abuse in WA Aboriginal communities is “shocking and difficult to comprehend”.

I quote those words.

Tabled in the State Parliament—

the day before 16 August—

the 640-page Gordon inquiry report into how WA government agencies handled complaints of child sex abuse and family violence includes 197 findings and recommendations.

It recommended more coordination between government agencies, more training for staff, including cross-cultural education, and more services, particularly in remote areas. It said a lack of trust between Aboriginal communities and government agencies, especially police, hindered the reporting and follow-up of violence and abuse.

That was the situation back in 2002, when the report was handed down. Senator Carr says it is not the states’ fault. I would have to say I do not know where Senator Carr has been. He displays all of the understanding of most Victorians about what is going on out in the bush in Western Australia. I will quote from an Auditor-General’s report reviewing what happened to the Gordon inquiry. It says:

Three years on from the Gordon Inquiry little is known about the progress of an action plan (with initial funding of $66.5 million and more than 120 initiatives) developed to address the Inquiry’s findings.

‘Little is known about the progress’. This was about child sexual abuse. There were 197 recommendations, and in WA, in November of last year, the Auditor-General said, ‘Little is known about whether we’ve progressed and done anything about this report.’ It continues:

A report by WA Auditor General Des Pearson tabled in Parliament today—

23 November 2005—

reveals that an authoritative account of the progress in implementing the initiatives and the action plan overall does not exist.

This is the level of commitment we have in terms of things like petrol sniffing. To see a two- or three-year-old child walking around with a can of petrol strapped with a piece of wire over its neck so that it sniffs is the most sad, tragic thing any person who has had an education can ever see—and I have seen it. They do not just sniff it; they sip it. It is absolutely unbelievable. Here was a report in 2002 laying out an action plan for what Western Australia needed to do to try to arrest this sort of thing. What has happened? Last year the Auditor-General said, ‘Nothing is happening.’

Do we sit on our hands? Do we sit around saying, ‘We can’t blame the state governments because it’s above politics’? Of course we don’t! We have to do something, Senator Carr. I will quote further what the review says:

The result is that groups formed to monitor and oversight the plan do not have available such basic information as:

• The number of initiatives and how many have been implemented.
• How many are behind schedule.
• Expenditure against budget—

The basic fundamental of good government is expenditure against budget. In other words, you appropriate money to do these things. The state government in Western Australia did not do it. The review continues:

• Estimates on final expenditure and anticipated final completion.
• A summary of the actions taken to resolve delays and barriers to timely implementation.

This is just disgraceful. This is maladministration by a Labor government. It is a blue-ribbon example. It is a gold-medal candidate. They sit there on the other side wringing their hands and saying: ‘This is terrible. You shouldn’t beat up the state governments.’ My goodness! People are dying. Children are dying. How much more do we have to carry on to get through to you people that Mal Brough is doing something in utter desperation? You have sat there wringing your hands. He comes out in utter desperation and you defend the state governments. They are indefensible.