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

Why I and the rest of the government and some members of the Liberal Party and some former members of the National Party believe that we need a Voice—and, more importantly, why those who attended the Uluru dialogues and all the land councils in the Northern Territory and why surveys tell us that about 80 per cent of First Nations people think we need a Voice—is because the approach that we've been taking for over 200 years, which involves governments deciding things for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, hasn't really worked. Senator Nampijinpa Price, you have raised a number of concerning issues that happen in some Indigenous communities. Both Senator McCarthy and I have made clear repeatedly that we don't condone violence in any situation. As is clear from the Closing The Gap targets, we know that as a group Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have much poorer health outcomes, housing outcomes, educational outcomes, employment outcomes and life expectancy, and much higher rates of incarceration. I would suggest that the system has not been working very well, and I reckon it's time to try something different. No one really cares what I think. What matters more is what the Uluru dialogues thought. They have come up with this idea, which we have listened to, as a way of delivering practical outcomes. That's why we need a Voice in my opinion.