Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I commence my remarks, can I pay particular respect this afternoon to the traditional owners of this land, the Ngunawal and Ngambri people. I pay particular respect to my colleague in this chamber, the first Indigenous woman in the Senate, Senator Nova Peris. Can I hazard a guess that, on reflection of the speeches today, the truth and the passion of Senator Peris's articulation of the plight that faces our first peoples at this time will be something that people will put down as a marker in this nation's history around truth-telling with regard to the oppression that continues of the first peoples of this nation.

Senator Peris made some very powerful remarks, that there are very many unhappy people here today—unhappy people who are here on this annual occasion in which closing the gap is reported. They have a right to be unhappy, not just because of the ongoing situation in which they continue to find themselves but because of the regression that has been the marker of this particular year's report. As Senator Peris said so clearly, and as has been echoed in most of the speeches today by members of this place and the other place, on both sides of the chambers, today we say that we are not on track to closing the life expectancy gap

That is a fact. We cannot turn away from that reality. As Senator Peris said, there has been a lot of articulation about understanding of the problem, but she questioned the amount of action to change it.

I have noticed that, in the many comments that have been made in this debate, there has been some faux outrage over a loss of bipartisanship on this day. But we cannot allow bipartisanship to become the silencer of fulsome and honest communication. Bipartisanship should not be a cloak for inaction and a pathway for platitudes. So it is very important that we hear what has been said here this afternoon. We continue to hear the rhetoric about consultation. But the fact that we are talking in circles must become apparent to us at some point today. Senator Peris talked about the 25 service providers in the Northern Territory, of which not one is an Indigenous group. She talked of oppressed citizens. Yet the outrage here—fake outrage—is about the loss of bipartisanship in the discourse! We are talking about people, the first people of our nation, and how they have been abandoned. That is on the record today, and the regression in our efforts to close the gap.

The main messages from the Close the Gap report are devastatingly bad. The only good thing we can say is that life expectancy has improved very slightly over the past year. Outcomes fell short of the early childhood target. No headway has been made in halving the reading and numeracy gap for Indigenous students. We looked for any signs of hope. There is a small indication of progress in halving the gap for Indigenous employment. We do have some students staying on to year 12. Also, infant mortality rates continue to decline, and that record has been steadily improving.

But all of the people who have experienced these small improvements are caught up in our health system. The government's priorities as articulated—to improve education and employment and to provide safe communities—are not much use if the community is unhealthy, so I really want to address my remarks to the health of the Indigenous community. It is such a vital aspect of a community. Health should and must be the most urgent priority in the Close the Gap campaign if the gap is to be closed. If you are not healthy, you cannot work. If you are not healthy, you cannot go to school. If you are not healthy, it is difficult to look after your family and their health will then suffer. The circle of disadvantage is expanded again and again.

The elephant in the room is that Indigenous people are still dying today from treatable, preventable illnesses due to the lack of detection of these conditions in their early stages. That is why the life expectancy gap continues to be as enormous as it is. The best way for us to interrupt that and detect these chronic diseases earlier is by providing access to a good primary health system. That way, all the various blood tests are readily available for things like cholesterol levels and blood pressure levels. The best form of prevention that we can get for our Indigenous people is regular check-ups.

We know that the best form of primary health care, the one that is most focused on issues that are endemic in Aboriginal communities, is carried out by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health services. In that context. cuts to their budgets have a powerful impact on the Aboriginal community, because they affect the provision of primary care. Any imposition of a GP tax—which, we have been hearing over and over, is the intention of this government—would be a cost hurdle in the way of primary health care for all Australians but would be particularly devastating for Indigenous Australians, with impacts flowing on to the disease rate and the death toll, while employment and literacy rates will all stagnate and fall away.

The issue of health must become a greater priority of the Close the Gap campaign. It is vital that the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan, which was set out in 2013 by Warren Snowdon in partnership with Aboriginal people, is carried out. This plan is regarded not only as a progressive and comprehensive plan for Indigenous health in the future but also as a model for effective, inclusive partnership—in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The reality today, though, is that we have a government that has cut $500 million from essential services to Indigenous communities. You cannot cut money for such services from a community in such dire straits and not expect it to be a setback on the path to trying to close the gap. Right now, a range of key organisations that support and work within the community do not know whether their funding is going to continue or be withdrawn. As Senator Peris said, and she has a right to express it in these words:

It upsets me—

and it should upset every single one of us, to the point where we are quivering with despair—

that Aboriginal people are coming to this house begging for money to drive programs in their community.

And these are programs that have proven to be successful. That is what is going on this building today. Indigenous people who know the answers to the problems, Indigenous people who have set up and run very successful programs, are at risk of having those programs collapse in a matter of weeks. This government pretends that consultation is its first order of business, but its Prime Minister is now renowned for the absence of a capacity to consult. Preventative health programs are helping. They help tackle smoking and substance abuse in all communities, but they matter particularly in Indigenous communities. Cuts of $165 million to the Aboriginal health budget are going to smash those essential initiatives.

In the Leader of the Opposition's response to the Close the Gap report today, he raised the issue of justice, which I know Senator Milne also spoke about and I know is of great interest to Senator Peris. It is something that has been missing from the Close the Gap reports to date, and the call today for a justice target has echoed, I think, around this chamber and, I hope, around the country. Three in 100 Australians are Aboriginal, but 25 in 100 prisoners in Australian jails are Aboriginal—25 in 100. There is something wrong with those numbers. We should be ashamed that we have allowed that to be. We spend nearly $800 million on the imprisonment of Indigenous Australians. But it is not just the dollar cost. What is the cost—the human cost, the community cost? It is a tragedy that we are participating in allowing it to continue.

Half of the young Australians in juvenile detention—50 per cent—are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth who are, as we heard from Senator Milne, in Mick Gooda's words, better at staying in jail than they are at staying at school. This is a tragedy of monumental proportion. And it is so important that we have this day to discuss these issues. (Time expired)