Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Scullion, I present the fourth report of the Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

In relation to this particular Senate inquiry I congratulate Senator Scullion, all of the members of the committee and the secretariat staff for the very significant work they have done on this report. I know Senator Scullion is very keen to speak to the report and its recommendations and will certainly take the opportunity to do so later on. There are a number of very significant recommendations, all of which seek to improve the situation of Australia’s Indigenous people.

I had the privilege of being able to attend some of the committee’s hearings—in particular, the hearing held at Weipa in the Cape York Peninsula area of Queensland. The evidence given made it quite clear that, in spite of motions to say sorry to Indigenous people by Mr Rudd earlier in the term of this parliament, as with most things with Mr Rudd, they were just words. It is again a hallmark of this government that there is plenty of talk but very little action. Indigenous people who gave evidence to this inquiry clearly made that point.

Another case in point is the wild rivers legislation in Queensland which imposes a huge impost on the ability of Indigenous people to usefully use their lands. It is legislation that has been widely condemned by Indigenous people in North Queensland. Mr Abbott has moved a quite significant private members bill to overturn Queensland legislation to avoid the provisions of the Queensland wild rivers legislation and to make sure that any decisions made by the Queensland government in relation to this matter are only taken with the full consultation and consent of Indigenous people.

Mr Rudd had an opportunity to indicate to Australia and to Indigenous people that his words of saying sorry meant more than just words. This was an instance where Mr Rudd could have turned those words into action. Regrettably, so far he and his colleagues in the Labor Party have opposed this private members bill, and I think that is indicative of the approach that the Rudd government has taken towards Indigenous people generally.

As I indicated, there are a number of significant recommendations made by the committee. I commend those to the parliament. Senator Scullion as chair will be addressing this report at a later period. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted.