Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Context is very important, Senator Gallacher. This goes to a very, very important issue. Nothing that is happening at the moment, none of the decisions the government take, is happening in isolation. It is happening under the umbrella of the poor management of the previous Labor government. So why do they not want you to hear about Mark Latham? Because this is what Mark Latham had to say about Labor on 28 August this year:

Shorten failed to support the push for rank-and-file participation: breaking down factional control and the inexorable march of dud union officials into upper house seats.

He can't afford to be missing in action again. After all, if he won't stand up for good governance inside his own party, how can he govern the country?

If Bill Shorten does not stand up for good governance in his own party, how can he stand up for good governance in the country? This is the important part:

Shorten needs to prove to voters he's tough enough to run tight fiscal and border protection strategies.

We are dealing today with a very important issue, and that is how we progress Indigenous advantage in our community. We cannot do that without addressing some of the appalling legacy left to us by the former Labor government.

I want to turn briefly to Labor's record in Indigenous affairs. This is a personal point of view. I think that disagreement about how we approach Indigenous issues in our country is good, because it means we get better ideas. It means we get a better approach. We need more contestability in how we approach Indigenous issues in our country, much more contestability. So what do we know about Labor's record when it comes to Indigenous affairs? Let us look at school attendance. Then I will turn to employment and then I will turn to the comments of the Australian National Audit Office. Under Labor, school attendance in remote communities was appalling. In many cases, children were not even attending school 50 per cent of the time. We know we need good education to make sure that the cycle of welfare dependency is broken. What did the Australian National Audit Office say? The Australian National Audit Office said— (Time expired)