Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to commend the leadership of Senator Price demonstrated during the referendum campaign and to speak in support of this matter of urgency. Labor dismantled the Northern Territory intervention made under John Howard in response to the appalling reports of rampant child sexual abuse coming out of the communities. But the abuse never stopped. Child sexual abuse continues to traumatise another generation of young Indigenous people in remote communities. These kids hit the streets every night because they're safer out there than at home, and they're getting into all sorts of trouble. If they are taken away, then they scream 'stolen generation'.

They deserve support. They deserve a safe home and a safe community. They deserve nothing less than a royal commission into how this abuse has been allowed to continue. I'm very pleased the coalition has adopted my call for a comprehensive audit into the Aboriginal industry gravy train. I have been calling for this audit since I was first elected in 1996. Around $1 trillion has been poured into Indigenous programs since the awful Whitlam era. These programs are designed and delivered mostly by Indigenous advocates and the many Indigenous corporations, land councils and charities. The gaps are not closing.

It hasn't been a total waste. The audit could also identify those few programs which have genuinely delivered better outcomes. I would welcome that with all my heart, because it would help deliver on the third element of this motion—practical policy ideas that really improve the lives of Australians living in disadvantage. I commend this motion to the Senate. If you really want changes, you really want to close the gaps, then have the audit. I have raised on the floor of parliament where there has been corruption and misappropriation of monies. I've named people; yet you sit back and do nothing about it. We need a royal commission into the Aboriginal industry.