Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. I am quite happy in terms of this being a democracy. We have the right and entitlement to share our views across the chamber. Everybody in this country is entitled to their view and we should vigorously respect each other’s right to express that view. I was not particularly concerned about the interruptions but I do appreciate the willingness of Senator McGauran to indicate that standing orders are important.

Just about all the witnesses in our committee did welcome the intent of the Australian government’s intervention package. Some were strongly supportive of the package and some were strongly against the package. I wanted to refer to a few witnesses in particular. John Moriarty, of the National Indigenous Council, said:

I find this a once in a lifetime opportunity for fighters like me who want Aboriginal rights, and I think it should be supported. We have lost at least two, maybe three, generations in my communities up there in Borroloola.

Dr Moriaty went on to say:

... we have allowed the states to do their thing. I find that this intervention is one of those aspects that will dig deep into the real issues and have Aboriginal people brought into the system.

Mr Wesley Aird, of the National Indigenous Council, told our committee last Friday:

I think the status quo is a result of a failed model in terms of funding and governance systems. I think it is destroying communities and lives. The obvious manifestation of this is child abuse and neglect as well as alcoholism and violence.

He also said:

I support the intervention. I think it is important that it is treated as a package.

Mr Aird went on to say:

I am concerned that the critics of the intervention are losing the real focus here, which is the protection and safety of families and children.

That is the real focus.

The committee also heard that many residents of Alice Springs and Katherine were supportive of the intervention package. The Mayor of Alice Springs Town Council, Councillor Kilgariff, told the committee:

I would like to start by saying that many people in this area have welcomed the federal intervention. They see it as a catalyst for change. Over very many years we have seen a deterioration in the quality of Indigenous lives brought about by many things but I would say principally by alcohol and welfare dependency.

She went on to say:

... I think the intervention is very welcome.

Likewise, the Mayor of Katherine Town Council, Councillor Shepherd, noted that she and most of her community welcomed the government’s intervention.

Yes, many submissions were critical of the haste with which the legislative package had been introduced into parliament and argued that there should have been more consultation—and I note the views Senator Crossin expressed tonight. Magistrate Dr Sue Gordon, Chair of the NIC and also the National Emergency Task Force—someone for whom I have great respect and a very high regard and someone who is demonstrating great leadership in dealing with these important matters—told the committee that consultation in the context of a response to an emergency was necessarily limited, and she drew a parallel with the imperative for governments to act swiftly in the face of other emergencies. She submitted that the protection of children and, indeed, adults in communities who suffer violence and abuse had been completely lost in the public debate and noted that in an emergency like a tsunami or a cyclone governments do not have time to consult people in the initial phases. That was said by Dr Sue Gordon, an authority and someone I have the highest regard for. She put a very persuasive and powerful submission to our committee last Friday.