Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

Evidently you missed my question altogether. Now, I understand—I've only been here 12 months. It is evident that, rather than answering the question, you'd prefer to attempt to take the moral high ground and paint me in a particular light. I am making reference to individuals who have participated in debate more broadly in this country. I'm not besmirching individuals but highlighting individuals specifically because of issues they have raised. The issue of Mr Bruce Pascoe is one that is concerning to many Aboriginal Australians, if you care to in fact listen to those Aboriginal Australians, because it is a prime example of someone who can't provide evidence of their claimed heritage but who has certainly made financial gains from that claimed heritage. This is to be highlighted because it is an issue that Indigenous Australians are very concerned about. There are those, like my mother and like 50 per cent of my family, who have no other heritage within them, who are suffering the most in this country, and there are others who have taken advantage of what is available to them and what is supposed to be for them. It is those people, and their concerns, that I come to this chamber to represent.

Senator Watt, you rattled off all the supporters of the Voice, while none of them have any connection whatsoever to the individuals that I represent and am connected to in these remote communities. They're not famous. They're not part of multibillion dollar corporations or sporting codes. They live in the dirt. Some of them are traditional owners, who are land rich and dirt poor. That is who I'm here to represent, and it is their concerns that I bring to this chamber—their concerns that there are those who take advantage of the ability to claim Indigenous heritage—because they're the ones who miss out when every one of those individuals pops up their head and takes advantage of what is supposed to be for our marginalised. They are concerned that the Voice will be filled with these opportunists. So it is very important that I ask these questions on behalf of these marginalised Indigenous Australians. Once again, I will make this question very clear: does this government consider that all Australians of Indigenous heritage, or simply Indigenous Australians—all of us—require special measures in the form of a Voice?