Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I look forward to making my contribution to this matter of public importance: the Abbott government's unfair budget based on broken promises and twisted priorities. It should come as absolutely no surprise to every senator in this chamber that I spend a heap of time—in fact, not as much as I would like to—in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The reason why I spend a lot of time in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is that it is where I cut my teeth as a truckie, making my living from 1980, but I also have an absolute passion for whatever I can do to address Aboriginal disadvantage.

I was contacted about six or seven weeks ago by Sarah Cleaves, the manager of the Baya Gawiy Children and Family Centre in Fitzroy Crossing. Sarah wrote to me and then I rang Sarah back. She told me that the former Labor government constructed a number—about 38 in all—family and early childhood centres across the regions, but in the Kimberley and the Pilbara there were no less than four built: one in Roebourne, one in Fitzroy Crossing, one in Halls Creek and one in Kununurra. For a range of reasons, these centres have been absolutely successful. They have been successful in delivering a number of outcomes to not only Aboriginal children in these centres but also to white kids that live there.

I want to walk you through, in particular, Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek. For those of you who have no idea, Fitzroy Crossing is a long way from nowhere, stuck between the towns of Derby and Kununurra, which are government centres in the Kimberley, and Halls Creek is 300 kilometres to the east of Fitzroy. Its closest town is Kununurra, 350 kilometres away. These family centres are not only creches or early childhood centres; they also offer community services and functions, and importantly they deliver the opportunity for allied health services. Aboriginal people and white people of the Kimberley can have their children in these centres during the day, but there is also the ability for speech therapists and allied health visitors to come, grab a room and address some issues that the children may have or work with the children. There are not only two-year-old tiddlers; there are also three-year-olds and four-year-olds. Also, very importantly, after-school service delivery is given and the centres do not charge for that.

We talk about the cruel cuts in the budget. The Abbott razor gang has decided that these centres will no longer be financed by the taxpayer, courtesy of the Commonwealth. These centres rely on the $900,000 to operate each year because they are not in Perth, not in Canberra and not in Melbourne; Halls Creek and Fitzroy are not Sydney. People do not have the ability to jump three or four streets into the next suburb to go to another childcare facility. These are the only facilities in town, whether it is Baya Gawiy in Fitzroy or the Little Nuggets Early Learning Centre in Halls Creek. This unfair decision by the Abbott razor gang to completely stop the funding beggars belief beyond me, and I have a passion to deliver whatever I can to close the gap. We need to do everything we can to give not only Aboriginal children but white kids as well in remote and regional Australia the opportunity for a decent education, plus the allied health benefits that come with it, plus the community benefits that flow on from these centres.

I only have a couple of minutes left and, believe me, I could go for hours on this.