Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

As I'm in continuation in the debate on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023, I realise I've only a short amount of time left, so I just want to reiterate that I am absolutely committed to working with my democratically elected colleagues to listen to our communities and to support frontline, evidence based solutions to address closing the gap, to close this city-country divide and to ensure that we hopefully can drive change from the ground up. What I am not committed to doing is supporting the establishment of a bureaucracy that can only have a governance board based on an identity.

A lot of people say it's not about race. If it's not about race, what is it about? If it's not about heritage, what then is it about? I believe that we are all equal, whether you are a First Australian, whether you are a colonial Australian or whether you are a new Australian. What is the common factor there? The common factor is that we are all Australians. To ensure that we close the gap and to ensure we make services available to rural, regional and remote Australians from all walks of life, I will continue to work my hardest and I will continue to listen to the voices of all of those people and do my best in this place with my colleagues to affect change.