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

To be honest, I am more inclined to listen to the Northern Territory representatives in the House of Representatives and the Senate about these issues than I am the Greens. I do not doubt your motives, but Senator Crossin moves in these communities all the time. I am much more inclined to take her advice on these issues and the practicalities. Senator Milne, I am not sure what visibility you get from Tasmania on these issues, but I would rather follow the advice Senator Crossin gives me about the practicalities of these measures on the ground. While I am interested in the views of the many groups that Senator Rhiannon read to me, the reality is that we are trying to engage and build support in these communities for measures that make a difference to people's lives and that allow the children of those communities to have some sort of fair start in life. I think that is something we ought to focus on. As I say, while Senator Ludlam might want to focus on what he thinks is humiliating, we know at least 4,000 people have volunteered to use the scheme because they find it a protection against some of the pressures on them in their communities.