Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Well, as you know, Senator Cash, the Closing the Gap targets were, I think, an initiative originally of the Rudd government, after the apology that Prime Minister Rudd made in another significant moment for reconciliation in our country. The targets were helpfully retained by the government of which you were a part, but they, of course, are a decision, I think it would be correct to say, of the executive government, although they're debated and possibly endorsed by this parliament—I can't remember exactly the interaction there—and that is exactly what the Voice would do. It would provide advice to government on the matters contained in the Closing the Gap targets or anything else that it decided it should provide advice on relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.