Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers to questions that Labor asked in question time today. I will focus particularly on the answers Minister Scullion gave on issues around homelands in Western Australia. This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart and a subject that I have raised in this place on three or four occasions. I have to say that Senator Scullion's response today was completely incorrect. The Premier of Western Australia has stood up and said to Aboriginal people in Western Australia, without a skerrick of consultation, that 273 homeland communities are not viable.

The back story is that, about three months ago, Minister Scullion stood in this place and said that WA welcomed the opportunity to lose $90 million in funding to homeland communities and that it welcomed the opportunity to take control of municipal services in those communities. Nothing could have been further from the truth, because at the same time that Minister Scullion was making those claims Mike Nahan, the Treasurer, and Colin Barnett, the Premier, were well and truly saying the opposite. They were absolutely sheeting home the blame for the state of homeland communities, for having these potential forced closures, absolutely at the feet of the Abbott government. Somehow, today, it is Labor that is scaremongering. I cannot believe the hypocrisy that goes on in here; I seriously cannot. We have a Liberal Premier in Western Australia who does not even know where these communities are—would not have a clue, does not have a list—but who announces out of the blue, without consultation, that 273 groups of people will lose their homes.

Let us look at some of the rural towns in Western Australia where white fellas live that perhaps are not viable. There is no threat to them. This is an attack on Aboriginal people right across the country by the Abbott government and by Liberal state governments, particularly the Western Australian government.

Last year, the Abbott government received a report from Twiggy Forrest, but it was a bit too far to the right for them. They said at that time there would be no BasicsCard. Now what are they doing? Another backflip, and it looks as though Aboriginal people in this country will be forced onto some kind of cashless economy. That came from their billionaire mate Twiggy Forrest, who would not have a clue what it is like to live the tough life that some Aboriginal people in Western Australia and across the country live. They demonise Aboriginal people and the communities they live in. Many of those communities are very, very successful, but that fact completely passes Premier Barnett and Minister Scullion by, because they do not know anything about them.

The Premier of Western Australia is yet to consult with Aboriginal communities. He is yet to consult with one, single homeland about what its future will be after the two years—the mere pittance the Abbott government has given to homeland communities to survive on—runs out. There has been not a skerrick, not a word, nothing. Last week we saw thousands and thousands of Western Australians march on the state parliament and let Premier Barnett and his mean-spirited Liberal government know in no uncertain terms that the Western Australia community would not cop people being thrown off their homelands.

Since making the announcement that homeland communities would close, directly as a result of the withdrawal of funding by Minister Scullion, Premier Barnett has backpedalled a little bit, saying that nobody will be forced off their lands. But if they have their water cut off or their school is closed or there is no electricity they will be forced off their lands. WA has a long history of forcing Aboriginal people off their lands, ignoring the fact that many of them have viable businesses there. There is very strong micro-tourism going on, but does either Minister Scullion or Premier Barnett bother to inform himself about that? Of course they don't. It is long over time that Aboriginal people, particularly in Western Australia, were treated with respect and dignity and not forced to leave their traditional lands. It shows just how out of touch are the Abbott government and the government of Western Australia that they continue to demonise Aboriginal people in the communities they live in. It is time to sit down and talk.

Question agreed to.