Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very honoured to be able to stand in this place and follow the three preceding senators, who have spoken very passionately and with great empathy. They understand the issues and have been deeply committed to improving the lives of Aboriginal people, particularly in their own committees, for a very, very long time. I have known them all for a very, very long time.

I first engaged with Senator Cox, my fellow Western Australian senator, probably 10 or 12 years ago, I think, when Senator Cox was working in the health department. She was someone who was really dedicated to working around the health area and dedicated to improving the lives of people who were obviously suffering significant health issues and needing support. I've known Senator Nampijinpa Price for a long time as well. We worked together before I was here in this place to see policies such as the cashless debit card and other initiatives, such as key employment initiatives that would drive employment outcomes for Aboriginal people across the country. I have followed Senator McCarthy and her work over a long period of time and now here in this place. I genuinely mean it. It is a good debate we're having here. I think it is a genuine debate, and contributions so far have brought forward some very, very important issues.

It is also my honour to stand in support of this private senators' bill, the Northern Territory Safe Measures Bill 2023, brought forward quite sincerely by Senator Nampijinpa Price. The way that she has approached this issue that she is addressing through this bill is something to be commended. It's not just a bolt out of the blue. It's not just a reaction to the front-and-centre issue that we have right now that has been brought about because of the increased media attention that is now on Alice Springs, in particular, and the town camps that surround it. This is an issue that has been a long time in the making, and Senator Nampijinpa Price first raised it in her first speech and indicated very early on in her term, in July, that she would be bringing on this bill. She worked on it. She consulted and engaged with the community across the Territory to bring it forward because it was filling a gap. This bill seeks to address that gap. It is obvious that it needs to be filled. It has been, as I said, a long time in the making.

The Territory government have ultimately had 10 years of successive governments to be aware and be ready for the sunsetting of the legislation that was enabling the restriction of alcohol and other things to be in place. Their failure to address that, their failure to show any real action on that, is what has required this bill to be brought here today and is why we are debating it.

My first engagement with the issue of alcohol restrictions is also not just some recent bolt out of the blue. In fact, in 2008, I was involved in supporting the towns of Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek in seeing alcohol restrictions brought into those communities. The coroner of Western Australia at the time, Alastair Hope, had delivered a report that looked at the spate of suicides that were occurring across, in particular, the western parts of the Kimberley. There were 22 suicides, many young people, in particular, and many women—people who are very vulnerable. He delivered this over-200-page report that was damning of all levels of government and successive governments of many brands, if you like, and a response was needed.

There were some really powerful people—mainly women, I've got to say, and grandmothers in particular—across these communities who were standing up and saying, 'Enough is enough. We've got to do something about this.' I think of people like June Oscar, Emily Carter and Maureen Carter, who were supported by Harry Yungabun, Patrick Davies and many others across the community who were desperate to see some controls on alcohol in the town of Fitzroy Crossing. They successfully lobbied the liquor commissioner, the racing and gaming commissioner, in Western Australia to impose restrictions on alcohol sales in Fitzroy Crossing. I remember seeing that through the news. I wasn't involved directly at that time, but I remember seeing it.

I went to a conference in Kalgoorlie, and Emily Carter got up and spoke about the success of their campaign. She wore a scarf around her head. Not knowing her very well, I assumed that maybe she had gone through chemotherapy or something, because she'd lost a lot of her hair. I thought maybe she was in remission from cancer or was having some sort of treatment, and I didn't ask any questions. I later learnt that she'd lost her hair because of the stress of the fight in that community to see those restrictions brought in—just the sheer stress, the pressure that she was under from people in her community and the threats she'd had. I learnt that she'd had her own life threatened because of her advocacy for her community, to see these restrictions brought in. The tremendous pressure that was on her had obviously had a material impact upon her life.

As a result of those alcohol restrictions, things started to turn around in that community. School attendance went up. There was safety in the community. It was by no means a panacea for the issues and the problems that were occurring, but it was delivering tangible results. This is when I started to get involved, because the people in Halls Creek didn't have that same coordinated leadership across the community. So I got on board and worked to help them get the same level of restrictions that they had in Fitzroy Crossing. In Fitzroy Crossing it was limited; you could only buy takeaway alcohol which was capped at, I think, about two per cent alcohol, so anything above that was not permitted to be sold within the town. That of course significantly limited the ability of the harm to continue. Halls Creek were experiencing much the same issues as Fitzroy Crossing, and they were desperate to see those changes.

I remember we'd arranged for the Premier of Western Australia at the time to come up and witness for himself what was going on in the town. They planned to be there on a Thursday, which was quite opportune because that's the day after the welfare payments hit, and Thursday was always known as the big day—the big party day—when the town would really turn on its head. The police commissioner of Western Australia at the time called Halls Creek 'a war zone', and he was much criticised for saying that, but it was the truth. When the welfare payments hit and the grog was flowing, that's when there would be the calamity and the turmoil in that community.

Unfortunately, the Premier's schedule was changed. We were disappointed because he wouldn't actually be there to witness firsthand what it's like on a Thursday and a Friday, just days after the payments had hit. He was coming instead on the Sunday. It is typical that by Sunday things have already started to quieten down. So I arranged for a camera and a small film crew to go there and actually film it on a Thursday.

I used to be a youth worker for a long time and I used to be involved in things like schoolies. I worked at schoolies on the Gold Coast. It's a time of revelry and partying. Obviously we've seen over the years some images that have come out of those events. They can be quite frightening to see. So I got up there and arranged with the police to be able to travel with them on an ordinary Wednesday or Thursday night in this community. I wanted to film it so that we could show the Premier exactly what it was like and so that he wouldn't see the sanitised version of a Sunday or a Monday.

I saw on that night—an ordinary Wednesday or Thursday night in Halls Creek—the devastating impact that alcohol was having. We saw kids roaming the streets at one o'clock in the morning. They were safer out on the streets than they were back in their homes.

I was with the police. We went to a place called Dinner Camp, which is not far from the pub. It's where a lot of the itinerants stay when they come from out of town and are in the pubs at night. One gentleman was run over. This was an ordinary Thursday night. His leg was shaped like a Z. His femur had broken and he was taken to hospital. This was all filmed. I was able to show the Premier when he eventually got up there what an ordinary night looks like. As a result of that they put in restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Halls Creek. Again, it transformed that community.

Over time it has been demonstrated that alcohol restrictions alone are not the answer, because there are other ways that people can access alcohol. Trade, like sly grogging, takes place, so other things are needed. I agree with the presentations by my colleagues who say that these measures alone are not satisfactory and are not the answer to or the panacea for the issues. By bringing forward this bill Senator Nampijinpa Price is introducing effective measures that go beyond just the obvious thing to do, which would be to bring in restrictions on alcohol. The bill provides governance and some more rigour over the delivery of programs and services in these communities, particularly obviously in the Northern Territory, that are necessary to be able to bring about the change that is necessary.

As I've said, this is a result of 10 years of failure of the Northern Territory governments. They have failed to prepare, plan and put in place the necessary programs and measures that would provide a future, particularly for the young people, across these communities. Unfortunately, all we've seen so far from the federal government though is just a bolt-out-of-the-blue response. As soon as it gets in the media and gets a bit of profile Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia, is there. He flew to Alice Springs and made a response. This has been an issue that Senator Nampijinpa Price has been calling for change on and trying to address not just since she has been elected to here. I know that she has been an advocate for change in this area for a very long time.

It just seems that this government is focused on doing the things that may be popular or driven by those in the inner city, elites or academic concepts, rather than actually listening to the people on the ground. A good example of that is the abolition of the cashless debit card. Just because some in the inner cities believe it is a punitive process or is ineffective the government did not listen to the voices of those in the community. Now, since the abolition of the cashless debit card, we've seen towns across Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland where things have gone backward. We saw yesterday on the front page of the Kalgoorlie Miner the President of the Shire of Laverton speak out, saying how things have gone backward in their community and how the liquor store there had had to impose restrictions and close its doors because of the increased availability of cash driving the consumption of alcohol.

I've spoken to people in the east Kimberley and Kununurra. I've heard that it's going backwards there as well. The early stories that are coming out are that there is an increased number of youth that are roaming the streets because of the fact that their parents have got extra access to alcohol. Their homes are not safe, so they're safer on the streets. Kids, of course, left to their own devices in that regard, without supervision, are causing trouble in these communities.

I thank very much Senator Nampijinpa Price for bringing on this bill and I encourage the Senate to support it, because enough is enough. We've got to have real action to tackle some of these issues.