Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I think we spent about an hour deciding whether or not to say prayers on one day, or something—not that there’s anything wrong with that. I think the key point there is the engagement that occurred between all the parties, including the Democrats and the Greens—although they were the WA Greens at the time, so I suppose there is a bit of historical appropriateness in having a Green from WA as part of this debate, even if they are not the WA Greens anymore. There was engagement of people across the board. And, most importantly, as Senator Evans pointed out, there was extensive involvement of Indigenous people, from all around the country—indeed, as people may recall, they came with different perspectives. As has been pointed out by a number of people in this debate, there are different views from Aboriginal people in the Territory on what the government is doing. I have tried to reflect that diversity of opinion in my contributions throughout this debate. I have no doubt there are different views. In fact, I have spoken to Aboriginal people who have said, ‘We need help so badly that we need to do whatever it takes—get rid of the permit system, take over the land, exempt the Racial Discrimination Act—as long as we get a big boost in funding and some extra attention. That is what we need; we need it so desperately we’ll take anything.’ I understand that view. The point is that it should not be an either/or situation. It should not be that you either take the whole lot or you get nothing.

We should be able to do this properly and with a fair bit of thought. I know there is always a tension when you have the desire to assist immediately, but it comes back to the issue of whether you do it quickly or you do it effectively. This goes to the effectiveness of the government’s actions. To specifically allow an embedded exemption from the Racial Discrimination Act for the entire provisions of this act and any acts done under or for the purposes of the provisions of this act, will compromise its effectiveness. Maybe it would slow things down a bit in some areas. There should not even be an implication that that will bring everything to a screaming halt, although I am not sure that the minister has actually said that. It would not bring everything to a screaming halt but it might mean that in particular areas you have to work through things. That is why, as Senator Evans said, it would be far better if the work had actually been done and we had the opportunity for a proper inquiry.

I repeat that the Democrats’ preferred option, and the option put forward by many Aboriginal people, is to continue this debate when we come back in the second week of September, having better thought through a range of ideas and consulted with a range of Indigenous people in the Territory. That is the Democrats position. It is not to put it off until later but to put it off until September, when we know there will still be opportunity for debate. Let us be clear about this: despite the government’s rhetoric and despite some of the frankly offensive commentary by Minister Brough—including yesterday at the Press Club, where he grossly misrepresented the Democrats for one by accusing us of not doing anything, not taking any action and not even raising the issue, which is blatantly false and yet another smear—the simple fact is that Aboriginal people want to make this work and certainly the Democrats want to make it work.

The government simply refuses to engage with people and refuses to work through what are some difficult issues. I fully accept that there are complexities in the different ways you can go about this, but if they made that effort and worked with people they would be far better placed in a month’s time—having done the work and built that support across a wide spectrum—than they would by pushing this through unchanged. You might feel like you have to do this today because we cannot wait another three weeks, but there is plenty that will happen in that intervening period and this is about the long haul and what is going to happen in five years. Taking a few weeks to get it right at the start can make a big difference in where we end up in five years time.