Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President McLachlan, I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election to the position of Deputy President.

I rise today to respond to the Governor-General's, His Excellency General the Hon. David Hurley's, address, and I acknowledge this government's commitment to improving the lives of First Nations peoples and, indeed, all Australians. It's incredibly important to me, as the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians and for Indigenous health. It's also important to me as a Yanyuwa Garrwa woman who grew up in the Gulf Country of the Northern Territory. I am honoured and humbled to again be elected to represent all people of the Northern Territory and Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and indeed it is an honour to stand here in the Senate for a third term to represent all Australians.

It's important to recognise our government will be working to the betterment of all Australians in these two important portfolios that I hold. Our nation cannot move forward if our First Peoples cannot, or if anyone else, for that matter, is left behind.

His Excellency reminded us, and reminded the parliament, that our new government has pledged to govern for all Australians, whoever they are, wherever they live and whoever they voted for. I travelled thousands of kilometres in the lead-up to the federal election campaign, but I continually travel thousands of kilometres because that's just what we do in the Northern Territory, because we need to understand what the views and feelings are of people on ground, whether they live in major towns and cities or in remote and regional areas of Australia or the homelands.

There's certainly a lot of sad stories that come out of our communities. A child born in a remote community today already has a lot of the odds stacked up against them, and they will have a lower life expectancy, a higher burden of disease and fewer opportunities for jobs and a good education. It's something I carry very deeply, not only as the assistant minister with these portfolio responsibilities but also as a woman in Australia who wants to see something better for our fellow Australians, and this is the real challenge here. We have sat in opposition for nine years. We are now in government. And the real challenge here is how we can turn this around. And how do we turn this around? All of the policies that we've taken to the Australian people we do want to bring to the Senate and to the lower house, to push through in legislation and to debate and discuss with fellow senators and fellow members. But we are sincere in wanting to see those policies delivered.

Labor will work every day to close the gap that still exists between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians, across a range of life outcomes. We will start with investments that will include improving housing in remote communities and homelands. That is a message that has been consistent throughout the last decade: the need to be able to revitalise our homelands and provide opportunities for families to live on country, to be able to care for country, work on country and preserve and protect what has been valued in their system.

This weekend we head to the Garma Festival, to Yolngu country, and again we will hear that consistent message: 'What about our homelands? What about our ability to grow and raise our children and our families in environments that we believe are safe for our families?' This is what we want to do in working with First Nations people—to offer those opportunities and options. Not everyone will want to live on a homeland, but what about those that do? And this is what our government wants to pursue in providing these opportunities.

We're also looking at training 500 new First Nations health workers—500—and working to eradicate rheumatic heart disease and other diseases of poverty. I'm incredibly passionate about these areas in terms of health. For way too long, as we've travelled across our country, we've seen too many First Nations people on those dialysis machines in renal centres. They travel from their communities, from their towns, to go into hospital and live there three days a week on dialysis.

Now, I know this is not a disease that impacts First Nations people, but I recognise that, with my role as Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health, I will have to focus on that, and I will do that. Better lives, though, start with better housing. Thousands of First Nations people live in overcrowded and run-down housing, with major impacts on health, economic and social outcomes. This issue has been reinforced to me so much across the Northern Territory by those who live this reality every day. It was raised with me again recently during my visit to East Arnhem Land, and we know that we are going to invest $100 million in housing and essential services on those Northern Territory homelands and $200 million from our Housing Australia Future Fund in improvements and upgrades to remote housing across Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, as well as the NT. All Australians deserve a decent home no matter where they live.

Strengthening the First Nations health sector is something I am absolutely passionate about. Aboriginal health services work tirelessly to keep their communities safe, but many do this with limited equipment, facilities and staff, and we all know the impact that COVID has had, and continues to have, on staffing in our sector across the country. We are desperately feeling that shortage in the Aboriginal health sector and Torres Strait Islander health sector, so being able to have a look at this and see what we can do to assist those organisations, whether they be the Aboriginal community health organisations or whether they be the clinicians, doctors and GPs who need to get out there and our hospitals who require that support in assisting First Nations people to get through this time, is an absolute priority for me—also, as part of our parliament's push to closing the gap.

Our government will invest in long-overdue capital upgrades in Aboriginal community controlled health services around the country. To create jobs, expand local services and, we hope, to save lives, we are going to invest in training up to 500 First Nations health workers. It gives our health workers an opportunity to provide better tailored care and a chance for them to live and work on country—or elsewhere, should they so choose.

His Excellency noted that, at the centre of the government's determination to close the gap, there is the belief that First Nations people, like all other Australians, should be made to feel that they have some sense of empowerment over their lives. We know that all Australians deserves the opportunity to have a job, to make a living and to feel a strong sense of purpose, but it's not always an easy feat to find a job in the bush, and, certainly, across remote communities I'm always reminded of the desire for people to find meaningful work and to have dignity in work—to have satisfaction, to have dreams and ambition of what they would like to see on their country, in their communities and with their families.

We are working to abolish the punitive Community Development Program, because it just does not work. And I'm just acknowledging very strong voices in the gallery, in terms of a voice to parliament, and I acknowledge Thomas Mayor and Vicki and the team, who are here in the parliament this week to ensure that we follow through on our commitment to a voice to parliament. And I will get to the voice; I've still got five more minutes, which is good. What I'd first like to say is that where we want to go with the Community Development Program is to have a new program that pays real wages to ensure people have access to superannuation, other leave and other conditions and to give more control to communities to determine local projects that support economic development. It will be similar to the old community development employment program, but I'd like to see what else we can do in that space.

A very long time ago, I was actually on the CDEP when I was living in a community in Borroloola, and I know that program worked. We were able to establish the first radio station in Borroloola while I was on the community development employment program, so I've seen what kinds of federal policies can work on the ground. The current CDP does not do that, so I am looking forward to being able to work with Minister Linda Burney and with special envoy Pat Dodson to see what we can do about jobs. We are so conscious that our country is screaming for workers, and we want to have a look at this program. There are 40,000 Australians on this program and there is nothing to show for it, really. There is very little to show for it. So we need to have a look at what we can do, firstly, to re-engage people with the workforce and to see what we can do for those who do want to have dignity in work and a future and who have some ambition for themselves and their families. I'm excited about that. I believe we can do it. I think the Prime Minister's job summit in September will be an incredibly good opportunity to see that we can think outside the square, do things differently and dynamically, and do something that gives our country as a whole more hope about what is possible and what we can do and achieve together.

Other areas that I have responsibility for, as assistant minister to the Indigenous affairs minister, are food security and the social and emotional wellbeing and redress for stolen generations survivors. These are also critical areas. At the moment we're seeing across the country the impact of high food prices for all Australians. The price of a box of lettuce has gone up exponentially. We're seeing high prices for fresh fruit and veggies. If we're seeing the rise of those food prices in our capital cities, just for a moment have a think of the extra challenges that are being faced in regional and remote Australia. Again, this is where our country will really have to dig in and link arms and say it is absolutely essential that, for all Australians, wherever they live, we are doing what we can to ensure food security. That will be my responsibility. It is my responsibility in terms of First Nations people.

In terms of the stolen generations survivors, most survivors from the Northern Territory and also Jervis Bay and areas of the ACT will be coming under this redress scheme. It's a journey that I've followed very closely for a very long time both on a personal level but also as a parliamentarian, and I've recognised the court cases that have occurred as far back as the late 1990s and in 2000, in which people have fought for justice in the removal of themselves or their parents, as children, under an Australian policy that, thankfully, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd acknowledged with the apology in 2008. But there is still unfinished business there, and I will be working closely with those survivors and their families to ensure that they receive the appropriate responses that they need to hear and see.

As I said at the outset, this weekend we'll be at Garma working with the Yolngu people and with all those who attend. Our government and First Nations caucus is very, very clear on our position on a voice to parliament, and we will work wholeheartedly and inclusively with all parliamentarians and, indeed, all Australians so that there can be overwhelming support in a referendum that we wish to take to the Australian people in this term of the parliament, asking for a voice to the parliament for First Nations people.