Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

I will respond to that briefly, Mr Chairman. Again, I want to put on the record that there is no part of the Little children are sacred report that I intend to diminish. It was a shocking report and the evidence and the process of bringing out the evidence in those communities is to be applauded. It is the recommendations that we feel fall well short of what we read in the report and there is a clear difference.

We believe that these amendments—both the previous Labor amendment and this amendment—are unnecessary. What we have done is to ensure that we have picked up the recommendation of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee report, which recommended a review in two years. And I understand that is the only difference—we both agree there should be a review. For those who believe the review should be in 12 months, we do not support that. Principally, because there are a number of issues in the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee report that we have picked up on and agreed to submit to, as I said yesterday, we will be making any strategic and operational plans public within six months, and any longer term plans within 12 months, and we will report publicly any changes or revisions to those plans. We have also agreed that we will provide a review in two years, but we have reserved our position on exactly what the framework of reporting will be. Whether or not we will use the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage framework is a decision we are yet to make, along with considering other frameworks. Obviously, it is very important to benchmark how we are going in the progression of this intervention. We believe the two-year process is a sufficient process within the revision, particularly if you take into consideration our acceptance of the other recommendations of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee report.