Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. I call on all of those opposite to actually listen to the voices from regional and rural Australia, who was saying, 'We need this agreement because we need jobs.' In fact, it might be useful to listen to more of their own. What we actually hear most of all is that people are talking down the opportunities that will create jobs for groups like Indigenous communities. We do not need to hear more of the smear and misinformation.

Former Labor Party president and Indigenous leader Warren Mundine says ' it will be an act of vandalism' and:

It’s embarrassing watching Labor dance around why they oppose ChAFTA when they didn’t oppose similar deals with other countries …

I share Mr Mundine's frustrations, as many of us do here, and understand why he says he is deeply angry about the opportunities that our First Australians will miss out on because of what Mr Mundine calls a 'bigoted' and 'xenophobic' approach.