Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

About two weeks ago I spent five days on the ground in Alice Springs. It wasn't my first trip to Alice, and no doubt it won't be my last. I've always been a big believer in listening and talking to communities on the ground. I find it's the best way to find out what is really going on. Alice Springs is full of people trying to do the best that they possibly can under the circumstances to make their lives and their children's lives better. I arrived just after the alcohol restrictions had been reinstated, and I was told by the locals and the police that the rate of violence and crime had already started to fall dramatically.

Senators in this place might like to know that most of the Aboriginal organisations in Alice warned the Northern Territory government not to lift the alcohol ban. But, like too many in government, they didn't listen. I met with many Aboriginal people and organisations, again providing great service to their community. I want to give a few examples. Jason, with his partner Steph, runs a boxing academy—a small club hosting between 20 and 50 kids every day at the Alice Springs Youth and Community Centre. They are operating out of a tin shed that is not fit for purpose. The kids there love it though. They are happy, they are strong, and they are fit. Jason and Steph work hard, and they get almost no government assistance. The kids see the same faces every day asking them, 'How're you going?—three simple words. Consistency and structure are what these kids need, what so many of us in this place probably already take for granted. These kids need to know that they are safe and that their homes are safe.

Alice Springs is not short of organisations providing services across the board. That may be a good thing, but what I keep hearing from the Aboriginal people in Alice, and abroad, is, 'There's lots of money in Alice, but things aren't getting any better.' Gee, I don't know how many times I've heard that, after chasing for that cashless debit card over the last nine years. Where's all the money going? Where's all the money?

In the 2021-22 budget the Australian government allocated $5.7 billion to the Indigenous Advancement Strategy over four years to 2024-25. Now, don't get me wrong: I'm like many other taxpayers, and we have no problem giving taxpayers' money when it's going to programs and when people need that support, but we need to know if it is working and, if it isn't, why we are still funding it. Why? The Minister for Indigenous Australians says the Voice will improve the situation—yeah, okay—because the gap isn't closing fast enough. It's not even close, especially when you consider the billions of taxpayer dollars that have been spent.

Another place I visited in Alice was the Central Australian Women's Legal Service. The demand on their services has been increasing dramatically. These amazing women and people in there that work want to do more. They get lots of requests from remote communities, especially across the whole Central Desert. There is a huge amount of need for regular legal education. They want to do more but they don't have the funding.

Last May all of the women's legal services across Australia lobbied hard and got $129 million. But according to the Central Australian Women's Legal Service, 'The funding has not reached the intended beneficiaries, but has been distributed broadly to include mainstream service providers.' What's new? In other words, the money didn't go to where it was most needed. It wasn't targeted. What's new? Government money that's not well targeted. I would've thought that you guys in the red would learn from nine years in the blue. Not well targeted—now, don't get me wrong, I am all for funding programs that work. And listening to Aboriginal people and community is crucial, because you do know what, not all communities are the same. How about that. You wouldn't know that unless you'd been visiting them on a regular basis year in, year out.

I spent a lot of time in Alice just listening. What I heard over and over is that there is cash, lots of cash, but we have almost no data on what is actually working and isn't working. Could it be that there are too many organisations, shopfronts? We need more accountability and transparency. We need more rigorous oversight on organisations that don't report on their success or the lack of success of programs. Please don't think that I am just having a go at Aboriginal organisations, because I can assure you past government ministers have also had their paws in the honeypot.

Part of the royalties from the mining companies on Aboriginal land are invested in the Aboriginals Benefit Account—or ABA. From 2006 to 2008 the federal government took some of this money away from land councils and gave federal ministers more control over where the cash went. In 2006 minister Mal Brough went into the honeypot to fund a festival—I'm not sure how that's helping Indigenous people—in his own electorate, mind you. How about that. How convenient. I'd love to know what the positive outcomes of that were.

Then in 2017 the then minister, senator Nigel Scullion, used an ABA grant to pay for an Indigenous employment program headed up by—you wouldn't guess it—the President of the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party. Jobs for mates. The government talks about unprecedented investment to close the gap. Oh dear. All Australians want to know is that their money is going to programs that are effective and are closing the gap. That's all we want to know. I've seen the gap with my very own eyes for way too long. I've seen young Aboriginal girls with babies on their hips and tracking bracelets on the ankles, and I tell you it bloody brings tears to my eyes. That's where we're at. We have girls who aren't even old enough to be mothers. They are children having children themselves with bracelets around their ankles. That's where we are at.

I met a young teenager who was described to me as 'Alice Springs's best car thief.' This young boy has been in and out of detention. When he gets out he doesn't go home because his home isn't safe. And he isn't the only one. He sleeps under a bridge and steals food until he ends up back in detention again. That is his safety net. That is very sad. The detention centre is his safety net. That is where he is at. And like I said, he is not the only one. I have to ask: where are the services at the front gate of the detention centre? Why is this a revolving door for this young man and many others? Where's the money going?

As I said, this wasn't my first visit to Alice. In 2020 I spent some time in Alice and a lot of time in communities in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. There were highlights and there were lowlights. The highlight of my trip was the community of Milingimbi in the Top End. This community has its own thriving design business and their own credit union.

The most heartbreaking day was another community in the Northern Territory making concrete crosses as part of their Work for the Dole program. This is what we did to a 17-year-old in one of these communities. This was his working for the dole, painting a white cross. And you wonder why they're taking their lives. That is what your programs are paying for and it is shameful. It is shameful.

We need solutions and we need programs that work. Those solutions must be done in consultation with local communities and must include programs that have a track record of working and must continue to show that they are working. We must get that. We have to get that out of the taxpayers' money. If they are tracked, we know that they are still working and are making positive change. That is what we want to see. Here is one for you. Here is one that you could do today. The government of the day could put this in today and make a significant difference, even before we go to vote in the referendum. Here it is: the old community development employment project—the CDEP. Every Aboriginal person I have spoken to over the last 10 years has told me the same thing—bring back the CDEP. That worked. It worked. It worked. It worked. I have heard that from the white community. Everybody in those communities know it worked.

While a staff member in my office was researching the CDEP, she came across a Curtin University study published in 2007 that looked at all of the government employment programs, what worked and what didn't. Of all the schemes that past governments have tried, the professor who did this study said that the CDEP was the most enduring and most successful jobs program we have ever put in place in this country, ever. But you would know that if you had been running around like I have for the last nine years on the job. I don't care what electorate you're in. When things are hurting in this country, get your boots on and get on the job.

The other point made to me is that programs that are not designed with the local Aboriginal communities do not work. The CDEP, also known as the CDP, prioritised giving Aboriginal remote Aboriginal communities the skills and the hardware to build, repair and care for their own communities. This is where we want them.

I called up an old army buddy while I was in Alice. He's married to an Indigenous woman and has been working with Indigenous organisations for the last 20 years. In the days of the old CDEP program, my mate got to take on apprentices for four years. But guess what? Now he is only able to offer them six months. They cannot finish their apprenticeships, so how do the Indigenous kids get a trade? Not in their communities—not helpful. He told me about the houses that have been designed with Aboriginal people involved. They were involved. They basically said, 'This is what I want.' He designed it. They said, 'Yes, this is exactly what we need.' So those houses were absolutely suited for Aboriginal people. He also told me that all of those houses, every single one of them, 20 years later are still standing strong because they were built for them. The CDEP's focus was creating jobs on community that increased cultural connection and gave those communities ongoing practical skills—money well spent, I would have thought; a system that works, I would have thought. If a system was not broken, we would have left it there, I would have thought but no, not politicians.

The government has changed its focus and decided that it was just about how many people got jobs. This is where we got to. This was the exchange: 'any jobs—it didn't matter—any jobs'. But this was a non-starter for remote communities where there weren't any jobs to begin with. The government just wanted statistics—how unusual—of who got a job and did not really care what sort of jobs they were given, and that is why they don't stay in those jobs. Common sense prevails—hello? What is even worse is that when the government stopped CDEP and CDEP programs, the local councils took away the roles, so those communities can no longer do their own repairs and maintenance. There we go—back to scratch. What a waste of money. We did this year in and year out. It was working and we removed it. That is what we did up here—shameful. It is baffling to me that the fact of whether a program works or doesn't work does not appear to matter what to the Commonwealth, not one bit. The money is often handed over, no questions asked, with little or no accountability—let's be honest.

But what people on the ground are telling me is that this has been going on for years, and I have seen it going on for years. What Alice does not need is more money thrown at it with no positive results. We must have positive change. The communities are screaming out for it. Alice Springs and the people of Alice Springs need services that are well targeted at the problems they are experiencing there today. They need programs that have accountability and are trackable. They need programs that are making positive change and they need programs that achieve what they say they will achieve. I can assure you: you will be hearing it all from Tasmania because it is coming, because we have the same problems down there. It's not just in the Northern Territory.

The Northern Territory Regional Controller, Dorelle Anderson, has been tasked with reviewing the appropriateness of all these services. That's a great start, but what are the criteria? What are the parameters? When we rang her office, we were told that no criteria were set as they were still in the consultation phase. How ridiculous! And you wonder why you don't have success up there! When will Australians see where the money is going and what programs are actually working to make positive changes in their lives? The minister says that having a voice will fix these issues. That's all well and good, but we need solutions today and you could actually fix the solutions today.

All the families and kids of Central Australia are hurting, and the single biggest message I got from Alice Springs in the last few weeks is that less can be more. Before making any more decisions to throw more money at Central Australia, let's make sure those programs work and that they'll stand the test of time. That's our job. Again, I have to ask: are there too many organisations? We have about 40 of them in Tasmania, and some of them, like land councils, are exempt from FOIs. Seriously! Why are they exempt from FOIs? Aren't they getting the job done? Are you too embarrassed? Is it a smokescreen? It's time we had FOIs; we should be entitled to FOI anything, pretty much, especially when it comes to Indigenous matters. That's so we can make sure we're getting the results that we need.

There's a motion coming to this place which has been sitting there since the last sitting. I will be supporting the call for transparency around the funding of all large organisations that get taxpayer money. It's time it happened. The federal Labor government doesn't seem to be interested. That really baffles me: they're going to vote against it, and I find that absolutely disgraceful. I want them to know that one of the biggest problems they have out there after nine years is that there's no transparency. There's money going everywhere to Indigenous places out there and we have no results. But they don't want to know why. It's time they were hauled over the coals—hauled up here and asked questions about where the money is going and what it has achieved. It's a fair question.