Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is typical of the ALP, who are more interested in public servants in Canberra than they are about Indigenous Australians who live in the north of our country. The Labor Party and the other nanny-staters of the Left of Australian politics never understand that Indigenous people want to be treated like every other Australian, not with special treatment or the sort of rubbish you have just heard from Senator McLucas, worrying about public servants. They want a good education for their kids. They want a job. They want to be able to own their own house. After years and even decades of the nanny-staters and those who I think, quite frankly, are racist themselves, they do not want to be treated differently. They want to be like every other Australian. But, as long as you have Labor around, they will be treated as second-class citizens who need someone else to hold their hands. What they need—and this is something Labor has never understood—is a job. You cannot get a job when you knock back every single application that would provide work in places like Cape York, the Gulf, the Kimberley or the Northern Territory. What people need is a job, but Labor will not agree with that.

I must congratulate Senator Scullion for the magnificent job he has been doing in this area. He is doing what I think Indigenous people want, and that is converting 150 programs and services from eight government departments into just five focuses or five streams. One of them, importantly, is 'jobs, land and economy', and that is what I have just been talking about. The Labor Party never understands this. We need to have jobs and allow the economy to operate in areas where Indigenous people live, and that is principally in northern Australia. I certainly hope that the government's northern Australia white paper will focus heavily on economic opportunities for those who live in northern Australia, and they are, to a significant degree, Indigenous people.

Senator Scullion also has a focus on children and schooling. Again, that is something that I know Indigenous people want. They want their children to be well educated so they have a chance in this world. Safety and wellbeing is another focus. Given their own resources, Indigenous people can look after those issues far better than public servants sitting in their ivory towers in Canberra.

We also need remote strategies. I am pleased to say that our government has a plan for northern Australia, which is where most Indigenous people are. I say this with my fingers almost crossed because we have not seen the white paper yet. I for one will be following it very closely when it is released. It is a bit late already. It was supposed to be out within 12 months of the election, but it is better late than never. I look forward to seeing that white paper, and I certainly hope that it will have a focus on economic opportunities that will create the economy in northern Australia that will give Indigenous people employment, self-respect, eventually their own homes and an ability to encourage their children to go to school in order to get gainful employment in the areas where they currently live.

I give full credit to Senator Scullion. He has taken on this role and is working with Indigenous people on what we know Indigenous people want. Principally, I repeat, that is to be treated like every other Australian, not to be dealt with as different people or people incapable of looking after themselves, as seems to be the Labor way. We do not want teams of public servants in Canberra trying to tell Indigenous people up in northern Australia how they should run their lives. Senator McLucas's concern for sacked public servants in Canberra over the interests of Indigenous people in the North just amazes me.