Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to clarify the record before I respond. In her first question to Minister Farrell, Senator Ruston stated: 'Last week the Senate agreed, without dissent, to the coalition's second agreeing reading amendment to the national health amendment bill requiring the listing of all medicines approved by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.' This is a mischaracterisation of the government's position. Whilst we did not call a division, the government did not support the second reading amendment, for the reasons Senator McCarthy outlined in her summing-up speech when she stated: 'There are longstanding considered processes for PBS listings through PBAC, not second reading amendments.'

I'd like to touch on the question that was asked by Senator O'Sullivan to Minister Farrell about the cashless welfare card. It is extraordinarily well known in this chamber and outside of this chamber that I am a loyal member of the Australian Labor Party but had a bit of a different view on the abolition of the cashless welfare card. I believed that it was not a silver bullet. I honestly believed we could do a lot better. But I made it very clear here in this building on a number of occasions that, from talking to my mates, the Aboriginal leaders in the Kimberley, there were mixed views. I also remember the passionate arguments when the card first started, not in Leonora, Laverton and Kalgoorlie but certainly up in Kununurra and then into Wyndham. I remember the leadership of the Indigenous corporations and communities in Kununurra—my very dear friend Ian Truss, Lawford Benning and Teddy Carlton. And I remember the passion in the speeches. As they made very clear to me, what was happening up in the Kimberley—I'm only talking about the Kimberley; I know it happens all over Australia, and it was not unique to just Aboriginal communities—they were sick of seeing their children being buried. They were sick of seeing their population, their people, being buried way too early, and they wanted change. They wanted something different. Unfortunately, the card didn't deliver what it was hoped it would deliver. It split the community. There's no argument about that.

But I do want to say that I think it's disingenuous for a lot of us sitting here in Canberra. This is not to slight Senator O'Sullivan because Senator O'Sullivan works very hard up in the Kimberley; we are cochairs of the Gurama Yani U, the men's shed in Fitzroy Crossing, and I know Senator O'Sullivan's commitment to Indigenous advancement in his previous life working for Minderoo. But I must say that I have worked in Indigenous communities in the Kimberley longer than any other senator in this building. I'm not saying I've got all the answers because I don't. But one thing I hold dearly as I wander through the Kimberley, not only in my role as a senator but in my role I providing preloved furniture to communities in Fitzroy Crossing, is to supply preloved furniture like bedding through Fitzroy Crossing. It is all donated stuff—road trains of the stuff—where my mates in the trucking industry throw a prime mover at me, three trailers, two dollies, and I run all that preloved furniture to the Kimberley to help service those in remote communities through Kununurra, Wyndham, Warmun and Halls Creek. We've even had people coming from Balgo to get hold of this very, very cheap second-hand furniture. We also create opportunities for Indigenous people to get training and employment throughout the Fitzroy Valley and the east Kimberley.

But it really does point to one thing. I must say this, and I can't stress this enough: through all my meetings and conversations in the Kimberley for the last 30-odd years as a truck driver—longer, 40 years as a truck driver and as a senator—there is one thing that Aboriginal leaders say to me, whether they're male or female, I'm talking to the women's resource centre or to training and employment service providers or to health providers or to those in the justice system. My Indigenous leaders and my Indigenous friends throughout the Kimberley make it very, very clear to me when I go there that there is one common denominator. They say: 'Glenn, when is someone going to listen to us? When is someone in Canberra or in government actually going to ask us what we want?' I can't think of a more powerful reason to stand up and support the referendum to deliver the Voice so that Indigenous people can actually have their say and they can actually be listened to. I cannot wait for the referendum, and I applaud everyone in the Aboriginal communities that I work in and represent. I will be there alongside you, for you and with you.