Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do want to talk about the issue that I think the senator was trying to raise—trying to justify why those on that side are not supporting the 'yes' campaign to give our First Nations people a voice to parliament and to give them recognition. Talking about a spread that was in a newspaper or a magazine that may or may not have been authorised that the minister had not seen, and I, for one, have not seen—I think it's a long bow to then try and castigate the minister for not being able to respond, when, really, the essence of this is that those opposite want to continue to treat First Nations people the same way that we've been doing decade after decade, and by all sides of the chamber when in government. We on this side know and, most importantly, First Nations people themselves know that that hasn't worked, and they want to have a say in their future.

I, for one, cannot understand why First Nations people have never previously been acknowledged in our Constitution. I don't know what those on that side have to fear about recognition in our Constitution. I don't know why they won't support the referendum 'yes' vote to have that recognition in our Constitution and to establish a voice to parliament. But I guess it goes back to their leader, who walked out when the Labor government was actually acknowledging and apologising to First Nations people. As we on this side all know, the Liberals and Nationals are so far behind—they're not what you would call a progressive political party or force in this country.

But, quite clearly, we want to address the issues around life expectancy for First Nations people and give them the opportunity to have that voice about how we can best support them in having better educational outcomes, because what an education does is to open up doors for a more prosperous future for the individual and their community. If you look at it from a humanitarian point of view, on the health outcomes, we as a nation should be ashamed that First Nations people have the worst outcomes on health—apart from some. Unfortunately, Tasmania, where I come from, has worse outcomes than First Nations people do. When it comes to incarcerations, we know a higher proportion of First Nations people than of any other cohort of Australians are in our jails.

I think the Australian people will ultimately decide that they want to see change and that they want to see better outcomes. Internationally, we've seen other countries make this move to actually allow their first nations people, as we are doing for ours, to have a real voice to their parliament and to future parliaments. I don't know what those opposite are scared about. You have Mr Dutton and those opposite saying that they would support legislation of a Voice to Parliament. We know why they would support that and why they would like us to go down that path: because they know that then, with a stroke of a pen, they can change that but that, when it's in a referendum and it's acknowledged in our Constitution, they can't.

I have to say that, for a Thursday afternoon, after two weeks of sittings, the target of their questions was quite bizarre. We went from airlines to radioactive material. With the way the former government treated airline staff and baggage handlers during the pandemic, I am amazed that they would even want to talk about the aviation industry in this country.