Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This issue has been urgent for decades, and it has been urgent for the entire period of this government. Now, in the dying days of this government, just in the run-up to an election, all of a sudden the government decide that there is an emergency in the Northern Territory and we have to rush this 500 pages worth of legislation through the parliament with no scrutiny and with no consultation with the community. The government have now decided that it is urgent. If this is such an important issue for the government—it is definitely an important issue for us—why haven’t they bothered to deal with this earlier? Why haven’t they bothered to carry out proper community consultation? Why won’t they let this legislation be subject to the proper scrutiny of parliament?

I can tell you that we as parliamentarians will not be able to do our job properly in the short space of time that we have to review this 500 pages of complex legislation that changes many acts: the Native Title Act, the land rights act, the Racial Discrimination Act and the Social Security Act to name but a few. No senator will be able to stand up in this chamber, put their hand on their heart and say that they understand absolutely every single clause of this legislation—it is impossible in the time frame that is available. The need for action has been there all along, but now, in the run-up to an election, in the dying days of this parliament, all of a sudden the government decides that this is urgent and needs to be dealt with immediately.

It is a shame that the ALP are being complicit with this government in this. One of the reasons the government want to rush this through is that they do not want the community to have the opportunity to adequately review this legislation because they know it is terrible legislation. They know it is discriminatory. They know it will not deliver on child abuse. This is not about dealing with child abuse; it is about a whole different agenda for this government. And Labor are complicit in helping the government do this. They want this legislation through quickly so that their actions and their support of the government are not adequately reviewed. They hope this will die down in the media before the election. They know that Aboriginal organisations do not like this legislation, do not support it and do want the ALP to support it. They know the community does not want this legislation. That is why they also want to rush it through. They also know that this issue has been urgent for the last 11 years.

This legislation, as I said, is complex. It changes a large number of acts. It does not address the fundamental issues of child abuse. How does taking people’s land away address those issues? How does changing the permit system and taking control of who goes onto that land address child abuse? We do not know what impacts the welfare reforms are going to have. We need time to review them. It was also interesting that when the media, the minor parties and probably the ALP were being briefed on this legislation no mention was made of the fact that these three main bills will change the Racial Discrimination Act. There was not one word in the briefing about that. It was only when you saw the legislation that you realised that the government were exempting themselves completely from the Racial Discrimination Act. There is just no way that people can understand the extent and the impact of all these changes. Also buried in this legislation is the fact that the welfare reforms extend not only to the Northern Territory but also to the wider community.

When I asked the government yesterday how much it was going to cost to implement the actual reforms and the administration of the welfare reforms they were unable to tell me. Do they know? I do not know. Or do they just not want to say how much it is going to cost? Again, this parliament needs time to adequately review these changes and the community needs time to adequately review these changes and to have a say. This legislation will not deliver the stated outcomes on child abuse. There are a range of things that need to be done to address this very serious problem, but they are not being done. I take great offence at the government implying that, because we do not support this discriminatory legislation, we are somehow supporting child abuse or the perpetrators of child abuse. That is absolutely offensive to those of us who care about these issues and who want to see real, long-term changes made.

The first recommendation from the Little children are sacred report that suddenly opened the government’s eyes to this issue is the one about consultation. It says that consultation with the community is the absolute key in addressing these issues. Where was the government’s consultation? Nowhere. There had been no consultation when these changes were announced, and the government do not want any consultation now. We have been granted a day’s committee hearing. Where does the government want this referred to? To the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Does that not also send a strong message to the community? The government say that these changes are about dealing with child abuse. Which committee deals with those issues? The Standing Committee on Community Affairs. If the government really thought the issue was about child abuse, why would they not refer the package to Community Affairs? If we can only have a one-day hearing and there is a package of bills, would you not send the whole lot to Community Affairs? No, they want to send it to Legal and Constitutional Affairs, who will look at some of the legal and constitutional issues but will not deliver on the outcomes, which the government state are about dealing with child abuse.

If we had more time, we would be able to divide the package up so that we could deal with those legal and constitutional issues, the issues around welfare reform and the issues around child abuse, and actually have the two committees look at these issues. Of course, the government do not want to give the time, because the government do not actually want a proper review because they know very well that this will not deliver on their stated outcomes, and they would be afraid of public scrutiny. If they really cared, they would have been dealing with this issue years ago instead of shelving a number of reports that have been tabled. Over four years there have been reports and reports about these issues and the government have chosen to ignore them and shelve them.

As I said, a minute before midnight—a minute before they are due for election—they decide that this is an urgent issue. Yes, it has been an urgent issue for years and years, and they have taken no action. Now they want to ram through the most draconian, discriminatory changes with no scrutiny. It is an abuse of the parliamentary process. We need time to review this legislation so that everybody voting on this legislation in this place can stand with their hand on their heart and say: ‘We know what these changes will do and we understand the implications. We understand the intended consequences and we have also reviewed the legislation for any unintended consequences.’ None of us will be able to do that. When we sit in this place to vote next week, none of us will be able to say that we understand the full ramifications of this legislation, because we have not had time to review the complex changes that are involved here.

As Senator Brown said, the Greens will be opposing this motion. And it is a great shame that we are going to be required to deal with this complex, discriminatory legislation in this rushed manner. In years to come, I think people will look back and they will understand what we did here. If they cannot understand it now, in years to come people will understand the result of this rushed process.