Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak to the Closing the Gap ministerial statement and the anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. I've been in this chamber long enough to know the history of how having this debate became a practice. When I first arrived in the chamber, it shocked me that the Closing the gap report was delivered in the House—senators didn't attend, and business just went on here. The whole point of giving an apology to the First Nations people was to think about how we speak about our history, how we respond to the reality of our time and how we make time to go on the journey of the heart, the mind, the soul and the finances to make sure that this is a just nation for all Australians, particularly First Nations people. Every time we do this, now that we all get to contribute to this debate, it is a mindful moment for us all here, as senators and as members in the other place, to think about the way in which we want our country to go forward. It's a vital time. It's a solemn time. In these moments, we reflect on the best and the worst of our history and the long pathway back to reconciliation with our First Nations Australians.

We still have so much work to do. It's clear we haven't closed the gap. Thank God we started paying attention to it at some point. The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people dying by suicide is not on track; in fact, it's worsening. Improving birth weights, increasing year 12 and tertiary education completions, addressing rates of adult incarceration, children in out-of-home care and youth unemployment—these vital and fundamental things that are embedded in the life of our First Nations people are all off track. It gives us a sense of the scale of the task. But today we redouble our efforts. We do not turn away, we do not look away, despite our shame, despite our fear, despite our sadness and the grief that this is a reality of our nation in 2023.

I visited Wilcannia in 2022. I met with First Nations community representatives on the banks of the mighty Barcoo River to hear directly from them what their community needed. I heard terrible stories of youth suicides, of poverty, of deprivation. But I also was mindful of the blistering smiles of one young girl whose joy overflowed like the river. Sadly for that young woman growing up in Wilcannia, the average life expectancy for men in her town is 38, and for women it's a little bit better at 41 years. This is our Australia in 2023. We can do better. I heard that the spirits of the town ebbed and flowed along with the water level of the Barcoo River and that the drought and COVID had both ravaged the town. But hope remained, and there was pride in their achingly beautiful country. They needed change in the way that we walk alongside our First Nations brothers and sisters.

We desperately need reconciliation to ensure that our people, the Indigenous people of Australia, have the same opportunities and same go at life as non-Indigenous Australians. It's not just about money. I know the costs of the many programs that have been named are significant. These programs are important and valuable; they are investments. Labor has invested $1.6 billion in additional support for First Nations communities since coming to office. The $1.6 billion package is designed to drastically increase funding for clean water in remote communities, for food security, for housing and education, for health care for First Nations communities across the nation. It also includes two dialysis buses for the far west of New South Wales, the communities of Menindee, White Cliffs and Wilcannia who begged me to hear their pleas because they couldn't face the round trip to Broken Hill. They were travelling hundreds of kilometres each week to get the life-saving treatment they needed. We need a circuit breaker. We need a voice to parliament. It is not radical reform; it is just another important step in the right direction.