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

[by video link] Technology is a wonderful thing—I'm coming to you from Broome. This MPI wouldn't be on our agenda except that, in the other place yesterday afternoon, the Minister for Indigenous Australians was blaming hesitancy amongst First Nations people for the dreadfully low rates of vaccination against COVID. 'Hesitancy is an issue that has to be overcome, and we still have a lot of work to do,' is what the minister said. But why is it that in September 2021 this government thinks that having a lot to do is news in this particular space? There is only one answer to that. It's because this government has been scandalously and callously negligent.

At the very start of its rollout program, the government identified First Nations peoples as the No. 1 priority, the group to be focused upon and prepared for the virus when it arrived. The extent to which hesitancy amongst First Nations people is an issue is not their fault; the government's bungled and inadequate messaging is the cause of that. And then there's the impact of wrongheaded evangelists and tin-pot religious elements that are said to be spreading propaganda to create fear about the vaccine amongst the remote and susceptible communities. These are no more than wolves in sheep's clothing—that is the way I see them. What is the government doing to fix this hesitancy and misinformation? Well, the minister gave us no comfort yesterday. If the government has a plan to avert whatever hesitancy there is, then the minister told us nothing about it. This government is more concerned, it seems to me, with punishing people than with managing the lives of First Nations people and getting them the vaccine that's necessary to avoid COVID.

We know COVID is raging in First Nations communities in western New South Wales, and my awful fear is that it is only a matter of time before communities elsewhere are overwhelmed. We've heard why the connection between east and west happens. What is happening in New South Wales is tragic enough, but if this scourge ever gets into remote Australia the impact will be catastrophic. My own state of Western Australia has a hard border. But, apart from occasional spot checks, the policing of that border is confined to the main access points, like the highways and airports. The border means very little to those in Aboriginal communities, who regularly travel for family or cultural businesses from the APY Lands of South Australia and the Northern Territory into Western Australia and vice versa. I know that the COVID-19 Vaccine Commander of Western Australia has sought assistance from the Morrison government for the Defence Force to help out in these remote reaches, but, as far as I know, there has been no ADF assistance provided from the Commonwealth government.

These are times that really call for leadership and vision. Leadership from the top of the Commonwealth government is needed, informed by a clear-sighted vision. We've heard Senator Siewert talk about the awful conditions, well known in this country, that prevail in the social-indicator areas that affect First Nations peoples. This calls for urgency, communication, organisation and action. We wouldn't be in this mess if the government had done their job and fulfilled their obligations to protect First Nations peoples. Lives are at stake, and the government shouldn't hide behind NACCHO and the peak organisations. Time's up—government, get out there and do your job!