Fatima Payman (WA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I too would like to make a contribution. I acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri elders and knowledge holders who've paved the way for those present here today, those following proudly in their footsteps and those yet to come, as owners and custodians of country. I acknowledge Whadjuk country as my home base where I live, care for and maintain continuing reciprocal relationships with all who share this land.

Today the government released its list of the 2025 investments to address the Closing the Gap targets. On the surface these measures look very promising: cheaper groceries in remote stores, business support for Indigenous entrepreneurs and home loan assistance. These are welcome, but they're nowhere near enough. We know that only five of the 19 targets are on track. While the government tinkers at the edges, the reality for First Nations communities remains dire. Housing is in crisis. Incarceration rates remain shamefully high. Food insecurity is a daily struggle. Children are being taken from their families at record rates. This is not closing the gap. This is barely opening the door.

Let's break it down. The Prime Minister has promised to 'cap the prices of 30 essential products in 76 remote stores', ensuring people pay city prices for basics like milk, bread and apples. It sounds great, right? But let's ask the real question: why are food prices so high in the first place? It's because remote communities lack infrastructure. I've travelled around WA, and I know that freight costs are astronomical. There is no reliable investment in local food production or supply chains. First Nations communities have been calling for community owned food co-ops, better transport subsidies and an end to the price gouging by monopolistic retailers. Yet the government offers only a short-term price cap. What happens when the cap expires?

The Prime Minister boasts about boosting Indigenous homeownership, but what about the tens of thousands of First Nations people living in overcrowded, unsafe and dilapidated public housing? What about the communities with no running water, electricity or functioning sewerage systems? This government has promised new laundries in 12 remote communities, as if access to a washing machine is the solution to third-world conditions in our own country. People don't need a tokenistic upgrade to a laundry facility. They need proper housing, clean water and liveable infrastructure. Where is the massive job-creating investment in First Nations led housing programs? Where is the commitment to long-term community controlled housing solutions? This is a government that will spend billions of dollars on nuclear submarines, but when it comes to First Nations housing all we get is a handful of washing machines.

Yes, the government is strengthening the Indigenous Procurement Policy and offering business coaching. But let's be clear, coaching does not replace secure, well-paid jobs. We know that the Community Development Program, CDP, is the discriminatory work-for-the-dole scheme that has punished First Nations jobseekers with fines, welfare suspensions and exploitation. This policy has failed and it has been proven that it has failed, yet it remains untouched. Issuing empty statements and promises will not replace CDP with real jobs, proper wages and decent conditions. Where is the investment in First Nations led industries, land and water management and renewable energy projects that create sustainable employment? Instead of relying on handouts from government contracts, First Nations communities deserve real economic self-determination.

This government is offering scholarships for First Nations psychology students and funding for domestic violence services. These are important steps, but they don't touch the biggest threats to First Nations people's health and safety. Where is the plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility? Right now, children as young as 10 years old—and disproportionately First Nations kids—are being locked up. The government knows that this is a human rights violation. It knows that it contradicts the Closing the Gap targets, yet it refuses to act.

Where is the commitment to First Nations led health organisations—to expanding Aboriginal community controlled health organisations and to tackling rheumatic heart disease, diabetes and chronic illness in Indigenous communities? The government is extending the Stolen Generations redress scheme, which is long overdue, but where is the commitment to Treaty? Where is the national truth-telling process?

The Uluru statement called for a Voice, treaty and truth. This government abandoned the Voice, and now it is silent on the rest. We have had decades of reports, inquiries and promises, and still, First Nations people die younger, are locked up at higher rates and live in poorer conditions than almost any other group in this country.

In my home state of Western Australia, leaders from First Nations communities have told me about the challenges affecting their communities. One of the key issues is health, as I mentioned earlier. At Edith Cowan University, research found:

… conditions like respiratory diseases (including asthma), heart and circulatory diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney diseases and some cancers are more common among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than among non-Indigenous people in WA—

specifically.

At the last census, WA had the second highest per capita rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander homelessness, at 381 per 10,000 people. The employment rate of Indigenous Australians in regional areas was dire—as low as 32 per cent in very remote areas, compared to the 58 per cent that we see in major cities. The measures announced by the Prime Minister tinker around the edges but fail to address the structural causes of Indigenous disadvantage.

This Senate should not be patting itself on the back for the short-term fixes that are before us. It should be demanding systemic, transformative change because justice delayed is justice denied, and First Nations people have been waiting for far too long. I urge this government to do better.

Question agreed to.