Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

the good senator should sit and listen until I finish the statement before she starts to resist it. It is through providing people the opportunity to have meaningful work, providing them with access to education—where 87 per cent of them did not have proper access to education under a government that you supported—and producing safer environments and safer communities. It is through that pathway that we will get the success in Indigenous affairs that it deserves.

I have to tell you your weakness. Your weakness in your attack is Senator Nigel Scullion. That is where your weakness is to the core. For the first time in generations, we have a minister in this space—

Opposition senators interjecting—

I know it is inconvenient. For the first time in generations, we have a minister in this space who not only understands the task; this man did not stand in a conga line waiting to get whatever the next portfolio was. He was handpicked by a Prime Minister who is determined to close the gap and provide the very best circumstances for Indigenous Australia. Governments of all persuasions have failed, decade after decade.

The weakness in your argument is the man. The man who is determined to provide these outcomes is not going to stand by and allow impractical programs to go ahead. He will see that every dollar of this Commonwealth is invested in a way that will produce outcomes and he will do something you did not do: he will measure them. I tell you what: you taught the minister a lesson.