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

Senator Cash, in fact, even introduced concepts that she didn't dare to introduce during the committee stage, such as reparations, which she knows in her heart and her head are not what is being proposed now. There is only one reason that she's introducing those concepts now, and that is to induce fear in the Australian community. She's making suggestions that the Voice will control interest rates. She's asserting the existence of implied rights which, as I have repeatedly pointed out, not just I but also the Solicitor-General and retired High Court judges say don't exist.

So I guess Australians will have a choice when it comes to the referendum: whether they listen to Senator Cash, who mounts arguments that are false, that are dishonest and that introduce concepts which the most eminent constitutional lawyers in this country say are not real, or whether they listen to the goodwill of our First Peoples, who have made a generous offer to us, seeking their recognition in the Australian constitution and seeking the right to be listened to about matters that directly affect them. I know who I'm going to choose to listen to, and it's not Senator Cash.

Far from what Senator Cash is claiming in what has become an even worse debate as it has gone on, what Senator Cash is claiming is simply wrong. This is a simple proposition in two parts: that we should recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of our country and that we should listen to them about matters that directly impact on them. As I say, as a minister in this government, I spend a lot of time listening to stakeholders, listening to all sorts of different groups of people, to try to deliver the best possible outcomes in matters that affect them, and that's all that our First Peoples are seeking here—the right to be listened to, the right to be consulted, the right to make representations about matters that directly affect them.

I think that if we do succeed in this referendum then it will be an incredible uniting moment for this country. We know that there will be people who will do everything they possibly can to divide the country over the course of this campaign by pushing these dishonest falsehoods and appealing to some of the not-great parts of people's thought processes, but I think there is a better way through this. That is to appeal to the better angels in people's natures, to bring people together. And we're seeing it happen already. We're seeing many Australians come together to support this proposition. We've seen the four land councils in the Northern Territory come together on it. We've seen all sorts of sporting codes, faith groups, unions, community organisations and business groups come together, and I have every confidence that the Australian people overall will come together to support this when we get to the referendum. I have every confidence that that is even more likely if members of the opposition cease to make the dishonest arguments that they've been making over the last few months. But, really, that's on them and their consciences.

I think that we have an opportunity through this debate and through this referendum to celebrate the First Peoples of our country, the oldest continuous civilisation in the world. It's an incredible honour for Australia to host and be home to these people. We even have the opportunity to recognise them as our First Peoples in our nation's founding document, and I truly hope that Australians take the opportunity to do that. I do hope that we take that opportunity to recognise and that we listen to our First Peoples, because we do know that better outcomes come from listening to people.

It seems to have been disputed by some members of the opposition, but we do know that our First Peoples are, as a group, the most disadvantaged group within our society, with life expectancy rates, incarceration rates, health outcomes and many other factors that are shameful in this day and age and that we have an opportunity to turn around. If people think that continuing to do the same thing that we've been doing for the last couple of hundred years—of having government's dictate terms to our First Peoples—is going to improve things, all I say is: look at what 200 years of that has produced. It's time for us to do something different. It's time for us to listen, it's time for us to recognise our First Peoples and it's time for us to come together. And that's exactly what this referendum gives us the opportunity to do.