Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Scullion. I refer to the 2014 Social Justice and Native Title Report by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda. According to the report, in his first 12 months the minister has overseen an upheaval in the Indigenous Affairs portfolio, which has caused 'widespread uncertainty and stress particularly amongst our communities'. Is Mr Gooda correct?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In a word, it is my view and Mr Gooda's view. Whilst he is a good friend of mine and a respected commentator in this area, I have to say I have not struck that widespread concern. I am not sure if you have—through Mr President—Senator. What I have found is overwhelming support with a change in approach in many of the discretionary programs that are going to affect Closing the Gap. We have seen many years of 'set and forget'—Senator Peris may not have been here through that time—where we had circumstances of fewer people going to school, fewer people engaged in work. We have seen on almost every indicator that something needs to be done. There are those who say 'let's not change anything'. I am quite comfortable with my organisation doing what it does. I do not want any change.

We understand that we have a greater calling. The government has a very important calling—that is, to ensure that those services that are being delivered, first and foremost, are being delivered in a way that actually closes the gap and that re-engages people with education. We are providing our First Australians with a first-class health system that they have proper access to and we are ensuring that not only do they go school but they get an excellent education so they can go on and take their rightful place next to other Australians—who take those sorts of opportunities absolutely for granted.

I disagree. I have not seen that widespread concern amongst Aboriginal people as I move around the countryside, and I will continue to have those discussions with the commissioner.

Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I refer to Mr Gooda's observation that in relation to the machinery of government changes affecting Indigenous programs:

There was little or no consultation with those working at the coalface about which programs and activities were best kept together or which Departments were best placed to administer them.

Is Mr Gooda correct?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The extensive consultation we have had since we have been in government seems to support that a whole range of areas were being delivered in a way that had no context to the circumstances under which people found themselves. We were delivering over a huge area whether it was through FaHCSIA or whether it was Department of Human Services. All of these programs across the country were not really dysfunctional in themselves but they were not engaged under a single coordinated process, so that is what we have done. We have brought all of these together under the umbrella of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, so we have the primacy of Prime Minister and Cabinet appropriately to ensure that we close the gap on opportunity for our First Australians. I do not have to defend so-called attacks against those processes or the rationalisation of our delivery of programs. I know that this is a part of all of the Indigenous communities that we have consulted with.

Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise to ask a final supplementary question. Can the minister confirm that the Abbott government wasted $1.6 million on the machinery of government changes to bring Indigenous Affairs into the PM&C portfolio? How much more will it cost to sort out the uncertainty and chaos resulting from the Abbott government's cuts in Indigenous Affairs?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly would not agree with the characterisation that the funds are used to actually start unscrabbling the madness that we have seen in this area. On any measure it has not delivered any outcomes. So I do not think it is a cost at all. I think it is a very sensible well considered investment that ensures that our First Australians get access to exactly the same services that really change things and to ensure that the services on the ground are actually coordinated through the highest office in the land.

Our Prime Minister, I am very proud to say, said he is going to be also the Prime Minister for Aboriginal and Islander Affairs. And when he said that he meant that in the sense that he is ensuring structurally that he is also responsible for that. And not only being responsible in that sense, he has also shown a lot of leadership in ensuring that we have a much better rationale, and we are already getting much better results.