Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Nampijinpa Price for the question. The government supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart. In particular, our focus and our priority is on our referendum later this year so every Australian has the opportunity to vote on constitutional recognition for Australia's First Peoples and for a voice to our national parliament. That is what the government supports. They are the arrangements we are putting in place. The whole reason is because it's a generous offer made by those who attended Uluru in 2017 and who authored the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

It's about making a practical difference to the lives of First Nations people in this country. There is a recognition that the system that we have in place now is not delivering the outcomes that we want whether it be in health, whether it be in housing, whether it be in education, whether it be in justice, whether it be in early childhood outcomes. These are the issues that we are focused on: improving outcomes for First Nations people and an acknowledgement that the system, as it is set up now, is not working; recognising our proud history, going back some 65,000 years; recognising First Nations people in our country's birth certificate; and ensuring that we are responding to the Uluru restatement, which calls for a voice to our national parliament so that we can make a difference and shift the dial to try to improve those outcomes that every single one of us in this place must surely recognise are not being delivered in the way that we want.