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

I table the report and statement of the Prime Minister on Closing the Gap. I seek leave to move a motion relating to the consideration of documents.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the time for consideration of the documents today not exceed 60 minutes.

Question agreed to.

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents.

This morning the Prime Minister tabled in the House of Representatives the sixth annual Closing the gap report. Today we pause and focus our attention on how we are performing as a nation in reducing the disadvantage faced by too many Aboriginal and Islander Australians. The report is a sobering read and it is a demonstration of why we need targets. We cannot gloss over the poor results. There has been some progress but we are still failing in most areas since the targets were set some six years ago:

We do need to have targets - but in the end it is results that count.

The emotions and expectations raised in the national apology that we will commemorate at tomorrow's anniversary mean that we must deliver results. We need a new approach and the groundwork is being laid. We now have a Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs and, in me, a cabinet minister whose sole responsibility is Indigenous Affairs. We have moved most of the confused multitude of Indigenous programs into the Prime Minister's department, where they will be streamlined. We have established the Indigenous Advisory Council, led by Warren Mundine. These changes and others that will flow put Indigenous Affairs front and centre of government policy and program implementation. Our aim is to achieve long-term generational change. This government has three policy priorities that underpin the closing-the-gap targets:

Progress in these areas will undoubtedly help to close the gap in all indicators.

A recent COAG Reform Council report showed that there has been no improvement in school attendance over the last five years. In fact, sadly, it is going backwards in some areas. This is a disgrace and a profound challenge for all of us. The Prime Minister today announced a new target of 90 per cent and to close the gap in school attendance within five years. We have a long way to go—some of these schools are only half of that. But if we fail, all the words expressed in this place will come to nothing, leaving our nation so much the poorer for it. More of the same will not do it and we need action more than words.

If we are to achieve this national goal, it is my strongly held view that strategies for change must directly involve Aboriginal and Islander people. I have been taking this approach with our Remote School Attendance Strategy. In 30 schools on day 1 of first term this year, there were over 420 more students at school than on day 1 of first term last year. It would have been more but, unfortunately, a cyclone interfered significantly and affected the results on Palm Island. These results were achieved because we engaged local people, local people with the support of their communities. The results are fantastic and they are their results. After all, responsibility for ensuring children go to school lies with local mums, local dads and the local community. Governments and bureaucrats alone cannot solve these questions; that should be clear to all of us by now.

In all government activities we must credit Aboriginal and Islander people with being able to devise their own solutions to suit their particular circumstances and their particular community. I take this opportunity to particularly commend and thank Yolgnu elder and clan leader, Rev. Dr Djiniyini Gondarra. He is part of Makarr Dhuni; he is effectively the equivalent of a cabinet minister in Arnhem Land. Dr Gondarra has taken the significant step of declaring that parents' cultural responsibilities should extend to sending their children to school.

As you would know from your experience, Acting Deputy President Sterle, this is a very significant issue in Aboriginal communities. The key, I believe, is to empower locals to engage real cultural authority, as demonstrated by Dr Gondarra. I have had the same conversations with other cultural leaders in other communities. This is the sort of approach I would like to see across all programs and services.

We must redefine the relationship between Aboriginal and Islander people and this government—in fact, this parliament. Of course, we do not resile from our commitment to provide Indigenous families with the support they need at the time to regain control over their own lives. Certainly when it comes to parents, we know that if they are not in control of their own lives it is very difficult to provide the support to get kids to school. We understand this no matter what environment you are in, whether it is metropolitan, outer metropolitan or very remote areas—we know that we are going to need to support those families. So I call on Aboriginal and Islander leadership across the nation to join us in empowering local people.

Much has been said today about bipartisanship. To truly cross the bridge of partisan politics, I think we have to accept our own failures. Let us congratulate ourselves only when there is true reconciliation in this country. This year's Closing the Gap report shows that there has been far too little progress since the Closing the Gap targets were introduced. This should not be seen as a report card on the previous government. We all know this is a difficult area and that there are no easy answers. We do know that we must be prepared to challenge the status quo and to be courageous in doing so. We need to be smarter about how we target our efforts. Closing the Gap performance must be viewed with an eye to the varying results in regional and remote and very remote Australia. So today I commit to regularly making publicly available Closing the Gap results by remote, regional and urban areas where they are available.

Acting Deputy President, when you read the Closing the Gap report, whilst it is an excellent report, having broad figures tends to mask the real circumstances. In education, in NAPLAN results, for example, other results that I am aware of indicate that they are doing a lot better in the cities and far worse than that in the bush. So the disaggregation of results is going to assist us as a parliament to ensure that we are making the right decisions in this area.

More than anything else this national endeavour must unite us in this place. The way we have worked together on the path towards constitutional recognition of Indigenous people has been a great example. Today I was puzzled when the Leader of the Opposition in his detailed commentary on what might be included in a change to the Constitution appears to have perhaps departed from the carefully developed process that was agreed in a spirit of goodwill across parties. I trust that is not the case and have asked to be reassured that the process that was agreed to to take this important matter forward remains in place.

There is much work to be done and we need to focus on results. Aboriginal and Islander Australians can make it with our support and our encouragement. In this place, as I know, people of good heart, let us recommit to the task of Closing the Gap on Aboriginal and Islander disadvantage.