Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of answers given by Minister Scullion. But before I move on to that, I want to say that the previous contribution was somewhat disappointing. I would have expected somewhat more. I quite like Senator Sterle. We work very collegiately in another forum, on a committee. But just invoking the class warfare again, distinguishing people by where they live, is exactly the problem that has gone on in this country for too long. If you live in a leafy suburb you are to be prejudiced; if you live in the bush—well, I tell you. I am done listening to the opposition invoking that.

And we had that with their leader—the old class warfare. What can you expect? We had the issue of their leader, Mr Bill Shorten, on the back of a truck down in Adelaide invoking racism and protectionism against one of our biggest trading partners. Fortunately you, Senator Gallacher, were down in Tasmania to get away from the fiasco. But I just find it somewhat disingenuous to talk about what we are doing when Minister Scullion, on his own account—and he can account for himself—can walk seamlessly through any Aboriginal community in this country. He is well known and well respected. I am not here to defend him; his record will stand alone. But it is my understanding that we are looking to deliver services in the lands in which they are most needed, and that is not in the bureaucracy in Canberra.

Senator McLucas is another person I would have thought would have understood the fact that we want to deliver outcomes in outback Australia, like the initiative of 73 schools in 69 of the most disadvantaged communities across Australia. That is what is driving real gains in Aboriginal communities around Australia. And on the school attendance rate, we are spending $18 million over two years to get children back at school. It is the key to equipping Indigenous youth to face all the challenges of the future. We have to intercept these children from birth—actually, from conception. That is what we have to do. You talk about the Forrest review. I applaud the work that was done in the west with the Forrest review, and I think Senator Sterle in his contribution could have been more effusive in outlining what it is that we could achieve with bipartisan support instead of taking cheap political shots on something that is very, very serious.

My own experience is with the Ngaanyatjarra people, to the east of Western Australia—an area the size of Tasmania, Senator Bushby. Those people want to go to work. Those people are engaged with the minister. Those people there are a proud people, people who understand what it is to have a job and to offer a future for their young people, to build communities around commercial outcomes. They want to farm camels, because in the last government, under the Caring for Our Country program, we spent $16.6 million trying to wipe out the camel population, and I guess it was tantamount to trying to take a drop out of a bucket. The camels are still coming. But the Aboriginal people of Central Australia see the commercial benefit of farming these animals, sending them to Peterborough in South Australia, providing an enormous amount of employment and selling camel meat, camel milk and camel skins around the world. The Moroccan Army has an infinite order in for as many camels as we can supply them. We cannot supply them. The Aboriginal people of the Ngaanyatjarra are right across this. The people of the APY Lands understand the commercial imperative, and they want to get onboard.

These are the things we have to do to empower, and that is what Minister Scullion is about. He understands that he was left with a basket case of a budget after the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd period, and he has gone about systematically, methodically getting his portfolio back into shape so that the Aboriginal people of this country have something to look forward to.