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

To be quite precise, what the Labor government is suggesting is creating a body. Recognition is an entirely different issue. You're also suggesting that this body will make representations pertaining to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but you can't actually identify or stipulate what those representations may be about that are specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Minister Chisholm couldn't even answer whether Aboriginal Australians are Australian citizens. I can answer that quite easily. We are. We're Australian citizens, just like everybody else. Therefore, why wouldn't issues pertaining to superannuation, the Fair Work Commission, the Office of National Intelligence, the Australian Electoral Commission—well, that's an obvious one, isn't it?—be the subject of representations?

An opposition senator: The ABC.

Or the ABC! With any legislation that comes before this parliament, why would that not relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians who are also Australian citizens?