Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I just have to pick up on the comments by the previous speaker on equality of opportunity. Wouldn't that be lovely? Wouldn't that be wonderful if all Australians had access to an opportunity of equality? But that's not the case. It's certainly not the case for so many of my constituents across the Northern Territory. Opportunity, and access to opportunity, is something we still only dream of. I would say that, when we bring an MPI of such significance to the Senate, we bring it because we are incredibly conscious of the enormous pressures that are growing every day on Australian families. It isn't about being nasty. It isn't about being corrosive. This is about reminding those in government and putting them on notice that there are Australians in this country who need you to show leadership, who need you to care. And that's not what is happening out there. It is definitely not what is happening out there.

Australia is characterised as having very low rates of poverty and economic segregation and a culture of a fair go. We've always been proud of the apparent economic equality in our society, but the Melbourne Institute's Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey has shown that households are doing it tougher. Before the election of the previous Prime Minister, a typical Australian family took home about what it did in 2009. It now takes home much less. Families are doing it tougher, and people who traditionally could look forward to a future of increasing wealth are now looking at a future of increasing economic uncertainty.

University graduates earn much less than their predecessors used to—$1,023 a week, down from $1,468—and they are much less likely to be in full-time jobs four years later—73 per cent, down from 91 per cent. Australians with only a high school qualification are doing even worse. When the survey started, 81 per cent were employed full time within four years. Now it's just 62 per cent.

More young people are living longer with their parents, and those who are fortunate enough to be able to afford to buy a house are finding it harder to pay off. Let's not go to the fact that, for constituents in the Northern Territory, the dream of even owning a home is still way off in the distance. Older people are finding it much tougher too, with superannuation amounts failing to meet the expenses of living longer.

The HILDA Survey shows that child poverty is worsening in single-parent families. At the same time, childcare costs have doubled for many, wages growth has flatlined, and levels of home ownership continue to fall. The survey shows that the likelihood of child poverty in single-parent families is between 20 per cent and 25 per cent, considerably higher than the general community rate of around 10 per cent.

What the HILDA report has revealed is something that Indigenous Australians have been living with for years—well, forever, really—and that is that the gap is widening: the gap between the haves and the have-nots, the gap between rich and poor and the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. In February this year, the Prime Minister tabled the 2017 Closing the gap report. It showed Australia is failing on six out of seven key measures to boost Indigenous Australia.

This government is going to spend $122 million on a postal plebiscite on marriage equality. Imagine what programs to close the gap of Indigenous disadvantage this amount of money could fund. The death of the wonderful singer Dr G Yunupingu at the age of just 46 from long-term illness brings home once again the disparity in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Think for a moment of the health services on country that could be funded with $122 million. This government is showing what its priorities are. It's not about tackling inequality; it's not about closing the gap; and it's certainly not about having a vision that will create a stronger and fairer Australia.