Patrick Dodson (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Reconciliation) Share this | Hansard source

I'll be brief. I sit on two committees in relation to northern Australia. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who clearly understands this government's agenda for northern Australia. Others have noted, rightly, that Australians are struggling with an economy that's growing at its slowest pace in decades, and this government is not doing anything about it to help.

I want to talk briefly about the NAIF and the northern development from a First Nations perspective. First Nations peoples are a substantial percentage of the population of the north. They have huge territorial ownership and interest in the north, both in land and in sea, but they're amongst the poorest in the country. Their social needs are extreme. They want to be part of the development of the north, but they feel excluded. Development is not just big infrastructure. There has to be social development and capacity-building to get First Nations peoples to contribute to the economy. You don't build capacity by making First Nations peoples sign up to the cashless debit card. How does that contribute to capacity-building?

It has been four years, three prime ministers, two ministers, four reviews and one per cent of the funds released. There's no clear framework for those that, as I have said, have a majority interest in the land and the sea, the First Nations peoples, and this is despite a reference group, made up of First Nations peoples, that advises the minister and the Northern Australia Ministerial Forum. That Indigenous group has made 16 recommendations. There's no indication that any of those recommendations are being responded to in a constructive way, so First Nations have no confidence that they will be part of being beneficiaries of the potential of the north, whenever it is developed.