Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry—for the question. Well, if she has the answer too, that would be helpful. I acknowledge that the senator has been very much engaged with these issues and was very much involved in the debate when the legislation came through the chamber. As the Labor Party indicated then when we were in opposition—we are now in government—we support the Northern Territory emergency response. We will review it after 12 months to see what is working and what is not. That is not to say, of course, that some of the issues that the senator raises cannot be addressed more quickly if there are serious concerns or issues that emerge. I think the previous government did that; we will certainly do that. That is the sensible and appropriate response.

We are committed to the emergency response. We will have a formal review after 12 months. But we do think, and we made this clear in the debate when the legislation went through the chamber, that there was a need for quite radical measures in terms of welfare payments to deal with the cycle of alcohol and drug abuse and the impact that had on child abuse. We did support those measures because we thought we had to try something. We had to support an effort to try something to help break that cycle. As I said during the apology debate yesterday, I think there has been far too much ideological debate among politicians over Indigenous issues, and the people who have suffered from that have been the Indigenous people. We have to try to find a way forward to overcome the failure of successive governments in finding solutions to those very serious social problems that beset Indigenous communities. So we are keen to work with all members of parliament to tackle those issues.

You will note that the Prime Minister offered Mr Nelson the opportunity to join with him in a bipartisan approach to try to tackle some of those issues, starting with homelessness, which is, in my view, at the core of many of the problems. So many of the issues related to the health of children come from overcrowding in homes—trachoma and a range of health issues. I remember going to Wadeye and talking to one of the doctors. I asked, ‘What is the thing we can most do?’ I thought he would give me a health answer but he said, ‘Build more houses.’ He was not the solution, the problem—