Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I now inform the Senate that, at 8.30 am today, Senators Moore and Siewert each submitted a letter in accordance with standing order 75, proposing a matter of public importance. The question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot, and as a result I inform the Senate that the following letter has been received from Senator Moore:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

"The impact of the Abbott Government's decision to cut half a billion dollars from indigenous programs in its first Budget."

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

The proposal is supported. I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am indeed happy to stand to speak in support of this matter of public importance today:

The impact of the Abbott Government's decision to cut half a billion dollars from indigenous programs in its first Budget.

This has been the most appalling doublespeak, in my view, of the Abbott government, the government which said that Indigenous people would be at the heart of a government. That was from the now Prime Minister, prior to the election. He said that he would be the minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. But, in the first opportunity, the very first chance, to show that those words were ringing true, what did they do? They cut half a billion dollars out of the budget that provides services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples right across this country. This is a hollow promise. We said that then, but it is now becoming absolutely clear that that is the fact right across the country.

Let us go to some of the detail. This government ripped $534.4 million from Indigenous programs. That is half a billion dollars. One hundred and sixty-five million dollars was cut from Indigenous health programs, including a really important program, the Tackling Smoking and Promoting Healthy Lifestyles program. Given that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are smoking at much, much higher rates than other Australians, this was an important program to improve health outcomes. Three point six million dollars was cut from the family violence prevention legal service, which helps Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their children escape family violence. And then there was a raft of cuts to community legal services, including $15.6 million from community legal centres, $13.4 million from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services and $21 million from legal aid, and there is no funding certainty for legal centres past 30 June this year.

Nine and a half million dollars was cut from the Indigenous Languages Support program, and they axed the Indigenous tutorial assistance program. That was the cut in education.

And, in health, the government did not renew the National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Early Childhood Development, which has left 38 children-and-family centres, built by the Labor government, facing the real risk of closure. They did not renew the National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes. That leaves the Closing the Gap health targets without a nationally coordinated approach to achieve them. Labor had committed $777 million to renew that national partnership agreement.

They have forced all Indigenous organisations across the country, in a shambolic debacle, to apply for funding in an open—so-called—competitive tender. It has been chaos out there. Every Aboriginal organisation that I have spoken to over the last six months has only spoken of chaos. The expectations that particularly Minister Scullion raised in the community about how wonderful these programs were going to be and how everyone was going to get great services have come to nothing. We know that 41 per cent of organisations that applied for funding were successful. More than 1,300 organisations applied for funding and have missed out on that funding.

But the thing that really sticks in the craw of Aboriginal organisations and the people who are talking to me in Far North Queensland is the way it was promulgated. In the north, press releases were put out by all coalition members of parliament and a coalition senator, and they talked about the boost in funding for Indigenous health services. That is frankly offensive. There is no boost in funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services in the north, particularly in the Aboriginal community controlled health services. This is 'business as usual' funding. This is no boost; this is in fact a cut.

We know and we can expect that, as a result of these cuts, we will see diminished outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. You have to fund health services if you are going to get health outcomes. You have to support Indigenous children in schools to improve their educational outcomes. But to call these vicious cuts to Indigenous health services a 'boost' really got the goat of people who have been coming through my office to tell me about the cuts that have happened. The Torres Strait Regional Authority has lost $3½ million in funding by 2017-18, and we have heard nothing from the local member. These cuts will have ramifications. There will be an impact that flows from cutting half a billion dollars out of Aboriginal services and programs into the future, and that will be measurable. We also know that the Closing the gap report that came down last fortnight was not good news for anyone in Australia. But I am fearful that, the next time we see a Closing the gap report, we will see more.

There are many good Indigenous-run organisations that have worked hard to improve the lives of their people. There are many Indigenous organisations who spent hours and hours putting in applications for the Indigenous advancement program, simply to receive a letter last Friday to say that they were unsuccessful. Programs which range from tackling youth suicide and addressing drug and alcohol abuse to those that support community night patrols and early childcare programs will cease to exist in communities that need them the most.

Sadly, it seems to stand true that Mr Abbott sees Indigenous disadvantage as a lifestyle choice. If this is Mr Abbott's commitment to closing the gap, it is an utter disgrace.

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

I rise to generally correct the record. I have to say it is pretty nauseating to be lectured by those on the other side about the achievements in Indigenous affairs. I know that my colleague Senator Peris was not here during that time, so perhaps you can just deflect any remarks, because you were not here, Senator Peris. The facts of the matter are that there was not half a billion dollars slashed off Indigenous affairs; in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. It is simply disingenuous to say to our first people that $500 million was slashed, because it is simply incorrect. If I can just refer you—

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Five hundred and thirty-four million.

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

I listened in respectful silence, Senator. I would like you do the same. Budget Paper No. 2 says that over five years there was a total of $534.4 million. If that had been spread across, as in a normal budget paper, it would have been easy to understand. Of this amount, $121.8 million is in the Health portfolio, and I will speak about that in a moment. If you use your calculator there, Senator, that leaves you with $412 million. The $412 million includes a saving from TSRA of $3.5 million, which leaves $409 million. The $409 million includes $355.2 million in administrative funding and $60 million which was departmental funding. The $355.2 million is the total save, which we are choosing to reinvest—of course, this is the question that this is just terrible—into new priorities.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But where is that money?

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

Well, I can just tell you if you will do me the courtesy there, Senator McLucas. We already operate at what I think is the real cutting edge. We have had a real go at fixing the school attendance: we have invested $46.5 million over two years. We invested $54.1 million for a permanent police presence in communities—that is right, safe communities—and $2.5 million for community engagement police officers, because that was actually what was needed in the communities. There is $3.8 million for a child abuse task force, $13.4 million for Indigenous education through the Sporting Chance Program, and $10.6 million for outback power—that was the old remote renewable energy repair and maintenance program. So overall the funding levels for Indigenous health are going to continue to grow over the next four years.

It is amazing they did not talk about this to our First Australians. They did not share the complete story, which shows just how completely disingenuous the story from that side is. From 2014-15 to 2017-18, we will invest $3.1 billion in Indigenous-specific health programs and activity, an increase of over $500 million compared with the figure from 2009-10 to 2012-13. This does not include funding provided through Medicare and the PBS, as one would expect. So, as part of this budget, we expanded our programs that demonstrated their effectiveness in improving health outcomes. That is right: we backed what was working, and we stopped backing what was not working.

We will invest $94 million through 2015-16 to expand efforts to improve child and maternal health through Better Start to Life. That includes $54 million to expand New Directions: Mothers and Babies—I thought we all supported that, a little like motherhood—and $40 million to expand the Australian Nurse-Family Partnership Program. It is funny you did not mention all of those figures. What about the $36.2 million from 2015-16 to expand the Healthy for Life program into a further 32 Aboriginal community controlled health organisations? It goes on and on.

Since the budget, two very significant measures—I know they are well known—were announced in December as part of MYEFO. We are providing an additional $94.9 million and redirecting existing funding of $1.5 billion over four years from 2014-15 to reform the Remote Jobs and Communities Program, implementing Work for the Dole in remote communities. You are not going to do that cheaply, because it has to be decent jobs and proper engagement, and it is going to cost that money. The measure will assist in providing real work-like activities. We have also provided $46.3 million in transitional funding in 2014-15 to allow the Commonwealth to support the delivery of municipal services in remote communities whilst we are negotiating the transition of responsibility to the state government.

Those are the facts of the matter. To say to Australians that we have cut without saying what we have reinvested in, which is far greater, is completely disingenuous. I was three years in opposition in this portfolio. Let me tell you: for whoever is standing here, there are plenty of real things to knock us about without making it up. There is a reason we are here. Do you think there needed to be any cuts at all? Do you think we needed to put four per cent back? Do you think we needed to have the fights with Joe Hockey? Right at the moment, this nation is paying $1,000 million dollars a month plus every month. Imagine what we could do with that, Senator Peris. Imagine what we could do with the investment. I know where you would invest it. You would invest it wisely, as I would.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Scullion, I remind you to direct your comments through the chair please.

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

Sorry, Mr Acting Deputy President. I will put my remarks through you.

But this is why we are in this particular parlous situation. It jus beggars belief. We have had Senator McLucas come up and say, 'I've only had people coming into my office and complaining.' I guess that is the nature of those people who missed out, but let me tell you I commend the people who missed out for having a go. But, unlike Senator McLucas, I am not giving money out depending on how many hours you spent with the preparation. It will all be new money and new ideas, and I have those in a repository. There are some fantastic ideas but, because we do not have the funds to fund them all, we have to prioritise. So we have prioritised it, but we are still keeping many of those ideas aside. Perhaps when we do have the funds, when you, hopefully, have the funds in government or when whoever does, we can invest in those ideas.

But through this ground that she knocks she did not say that 964 organisations are going to deliver nearly 1,300 programs. Most importantly, instead of just saying we are helping Aboriginal organisations or non-Aboriginal organisations, whilst I care deeply about them all, the people I actually care about are the people on the ground receiving services. That should be the focus of parliament. That should be your focus.

Part of the challenge in this particular portfolio is we cannot close the gap if we have services that are being delivered substandard with low expectations. The same people have been doing it year after year after year. That is going to change on 30 June because those who are dong the services are going to be in a contract that basically focuses on outcomes. They will be paid to provide an outcome. It is quite a reasonable thing to do. In the past that has not been the case. For those Indigenous organisations that say are they doing it or aren't they doing it I have said, 'We want to work with you the first year; we want to intensively work with you to ensure that the services to our shared constituency are delivered in the very best possible way.'

So, as I have said, it is completely disingenuous to stand up in this place as a matter of public importance and suggest that somehow we have slashed $500 million off the budget, end of story, leaving people with the perception, of course, that that is what happened. That is not what happened; and, if you care about this portfolio, you will start thinking about stopping the politicisation of it. If you are fair dinkum about closing the gap and you are all fair dinkum about engaging with our first Australians properly, you will start taking your hat off. I in this place try day after day to depoliticise this, and those who know me on the other side will acknowledge that, so I do not think it is helpful. I know this was jointly sponsored by Senator Siewert, and I have a great deal of time for the joint sponsors. I do not think this is helpful, because this sends a signal to Indigenous Australians. It might be mischievous and it might be politically the right thing to do in this place, but I really wish you would start to switch on. If we can work together on this, it is going to be far better than the normal adversarial rubbish that we carry on with in this place. That is why I am a bit nauseated for those on the other side to lecture me.

Perhaps I should touch on a couple of things in the record of those on the other side. We are going to get kids into school, we are going to get people employed and we are going to provide for safer communities. During your period of office, 87 per cent of people did not get an education. I have arrived and am trying to fix that in a way that really makes a difference. Unemployment during your watch increased by 4.3 per cent, more than five times what is happening in mainstream Australia. Intoxication rates went from 5.7 to 12.1 times the mainstream level. This all happened on your watch. I am not saying there is any mischief or any particular incompetence; it is a tough area.

So, once again, this is a matter of public importance, and the importance of this matter is to come into this place and tell the whole truth. Don't just pick up what you like and say, 'Isn't this going to impress people on the front page,' because I can tell you they are not impressed. Our first Australians of this parliament—not this government, this parliament—deserve the whole truth about exactly what is going on, and this so-called matter of public importance serves no justice whatsoever.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to this debate. If you listened to Senator Scullion, you would think everything is okay in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs and that he has the answers to everything. He has not. If he did, perhaps you would get some more agreement across this chamber to the policies that he is proposing. When a government goes to a billionaire and lets them write the policy on how we should address Aboriginal unemployment and Aboriginal issues, you know they are lacking in policy outcomes. This is the government that is currently preparing to do Australia over once again with the health and welfare card because the billionaire had a thought bubble that it might be a good way to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage. While they are doing policies like that, they will not be getting cross-party support for those policies.

Let's look at the funding that has been cut from services in Central Australia, which points to the chaotic nature of what has just gone down with the Indigenous Advancement Strategy. We know that many groups have missed out on funding, because they are ringing us. As yet we do not have an overall picture, because that information is not available. We are at the moment having unfortunately to operate on anecdotal evidence. There is some list circulating around Australia for the Northern Territory and Western Australia. They do not tell us what projects have not been funded. They do tell us the projects that have been funded—and by electorate, by the way—but they do not tell us how much they are funding. They do not tell us which organisations have replaced other organisations. So we cannot get a picture about how the so-called brilliant strategy for Indigenous advancement has in fact been funded.

What the overall strategy is seems to have been a bit of a collection of what people feel should be funded, but they actually do not have an idea of what has been funded. That is clear from the picture from Central Australia, where the youth services for both MacDonnell Shire and Barkly Shire have not been funded. The sport and rec program in Barkly Shire which I am told employs about 30 Aboriginal people has not been funded. For the MacDonnell Shire past funding programs funded youth services for important areas that have been affected by both petrol sniffing and other substance abuse The Barkly Shire has apparently been offered eight per cent more in funding to fund a whole lot more areas—in other words, things that the MacDonnell Shire will not be able to do, with just an eight per cent increase in funding.

We do not know what has or has not been funded under the Indigenous Advancement Strategy. We do know that some organisations did not put in funding bids because they did not think they would be able to meet the guidelines in time. We also know that some organisations, because of the rapidity with which they had to put in applications, were not able to complete their applications to a satisfactory standard and they seem to have been assisted in improving those applications. Again, it makes a farce of the process. In estimates a couple of cycles ago the minister and the department admitted that the funding cut had not been made as a result of a strategic approach—it was an efficiency drive. There have been funding cuts to this program, and instead of the minister addressing the issues around the Indigenous Advancement Strategy, he goes to the same boring views and trite remarks about debt. Whenever a government minister does not want to answer a question in this place they make that point—and that is what he has just done. I expected him to be better than that and to address the issues. I understand that the department probably did not want to make a mistake about not funding those youth services that are absolutely critical in Central Australia in addressing substance abuse, but that is what happened—those applications were put in and they have fallen through the gap in terms of being addressed by government. Again, it makes a mockery of their claims that they have been through a strategic approach with this Indigenous Advancement Strategy. They have not. I resent the minister coming in here and lecturing us about what we should be doing and asking us to support them blindly.

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

I am going to make a few initial observations about the current context of this MPI before turning to the direct effects of the government cutting $500 million from the Indigenous affairs budget. Recently, following an inexcusably bad set of decisions, Prime Minister Tony Abbott faced extreme criticism from his backbench and a spill motion was moved in the party room. After what he called a near-death experience, the Prime Minister pressed the reset button and promised to become more consultative. He asked for clear air and a chance to begin his government again. 'Good government starts today', he hailed on 8 February this year. He was given another go by his colleagues and a chance to make amends—he said he recognised he had made mistakes. The question I now pose is: should Aboriginal Australians now attempt to appeal to this side of the Prime Minister, to his willingness to reconsider past transgressions? I feel if we cannot push the reset button; his effort to become the Prime Minister for Indigenous Australians and to achieve constitutional recognition will fail miserably. He will have failed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. He will have failed all Australians.

In the Northern Territory, my back yard, the Prime Minister is referred to as 'the gammon man'. In the Territory you are gammon if you say one thing but do the exact opposite. If you say you will not cut health and education spending and then you announce that you will cut spending, you are gammon. Once again, the Abbott government deceived Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when they said they would not cut frontline services. This is exactly what he has said, and we have heard about that here from Senator Siewert and Senator McLucas. It is right throughout the chamber. The Prime Minister is gammon and he has done this in his very first budget as Prime Minister. It is a national disgrace.

The Abbott government cut half a billion dollars from Aboriginal expenditure in the 2013-14 budget, then rushed the process under its flawed new grants system, the Indigenous Advancement Strategy, which Senator Siewert described earlier. It is not working. They have slashed funding to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations right across the country—I know, because I speak to people every single day—to such an extent that many services will be forced to close. This government talks about closing the gap on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage on the one hand but withdraws crucial funding to frontline services with the other. The Indigenous Advancement Strategy is neither an advancement nor strategic. That is the truth of this. It is ridiculous. It is confusing and it is mean-spirited. I will tell you what the mob across the country are calling the IAS—they are calling it the Indigenous annihilation strategy! That is the truth of the matter.

On top of all of this, the Prime Minister chooses to create more confusion and anxiety by supporting the WA government's proposal to forcibly move Aboriginal people living in the remote and regional areas in that state because he considers their living there to be a 'lifestyle choice'. There are important questions that need to be answered by Senator Scullion and the Prime Minister, who agree that Aboriginal people will be forced off their land, displaced and forced to live—where exactly? Where are these people going to be moved to? How will people be forced off their country? Will the Army be used again? What communities will be shut down? What services will you provide for these displaced human citizens of this country? What accountability have you asked for from the WA government in subsidising this latest land grab, as we call it—because it is. It is about land.

The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Scullion, and the Prime Minister are directly responsible for the disastrous Indigenous annihilation strategy.    Under the IAS, only 964 of the 2,345 organisations that applied for funding have been successful.    The Liberals have announced just $860 million in grant funding for Indigenous programs and frontline services, having received more than $14 billion in applications. Many organisations have received just a fraction of their current budget to deliver vital frontline services in their communities. Is the minister seriously saying that Aboriginal people across the country losing jobs is going to help close the gap or help Aboriginal people to participate fully in this nation's economy? Across my electorate these disastrous cuts have caused extremely high levels of anxiety, anger and confusion—arising out of the uncertainty.

I have already mentioned the Katherine Women's Legal Service, which provides vital front-line services to victims of family violence. Fifty per cent of their funding has been cut. The YMCA in Katherine will struggle to deliver youth programs that are widely acknowledged for keeping kids off the streets at night, because their funding has been cut. The Prime Minister's foray into Indigenous affairs included the proposal that the MacDonnell Regional Council should expand its youth development services from nine to 12 remote communities, but that it should do so at a cost of only eight per cent of its current budget. If the PM wants to help Aboriginal people, why has he just cut 51 jobs in the MacDonnell shire? Senator Siewert spoke about the Barkly shire, so I will not go into that again, but 30 jobs have been cut and there are no youth programs delivered there anymore. The small town of Elliott on the Stuart Highway—halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs —will lose two part-time childcare positions. So much for supporting parents and helping them to get their kids engaged in education! Jobs will be lost from the closure of the drug and alcohol program run by Amity Community Services in Darwin. These are all front-line services. In Alice Springs, the Institute for Aboriginal Development is one of Central Australia's oldest Aboriginal community controlled organisations. It is facing closure because of cuts to its funding. The IAD runs literacy, numeracy and job-ready programs.

Let me talk now about understanding Aboriginal people living on country and their traditional homelands. The homelands movement has a history going back decades. Aboriginal people started returning to their traditional country so they could continue their cultural practices and so they could live in peace—away from the fringe camps of the regional service delivery towns where their lives were characterised by marginalisation, overcrowding, conflict, continued social and cultural breakdown, deep personal distress, and alcohol and substance abuse.

Ms Laurie Baymarrwangga, otherwise known as 'Big Boss', passed away in August 2014 at 98 years of age—an Aboriginal woman! She gave approval before her passing for her name to be used in helping to carry on all her hard work. Over her 98 years, Big Boss witnessed the arrival of the first missionaries and the World War II bombing of Milingimbi. She established an island homeland, a school, a ranger program and a turtle sanctuary—and she saved her language. She created language nests and still did not give up. In 2012, Big Boss was the Senior Australian of the Year.

The Crocodile Islands Ranger Program, formally launched in 2010, won the Minister's Award for Outstanding Team Achievement in the 2012 NT Ranger Awards. The rangers now protect more than 10,000 square kilometres of sea country, with 250 square kilometres of registered sacred sites, and have created a turtle sanctuary of 1,000 square kilometres. These programs are set to manage, conserve and enhance natural marine resources and the traditional ecological knowledge that lives in the local languages. This conservation effort has national significance. Big Boss said:

Homelands are at the heart of our country.

Knowing country depends upon understanding the complex cultural relationships linked to living on homelands. This protects a vital part of Australia's biodiversity and its cultural and environmental heritage. Homelands are where people transfer the world's oldest living traditions, deep cultural knowledge and globally rare Indigenous languages. All of these are under threat.

It is deeply concerning that the Prime Minister supports the eviction of hundreds of Aboriginal people from their traditional lands. This is a Prime Minister who clearly does not understand the value or the importance of Aboriginal peoples' connection to land—completely disregarding more than 200 years of Indigenous dispossession. We all know that the Prime Minister, as I referred to before, is commonly known in the Territory as 'the gammon man' when it comes to Indigenous Affairs. The self-appointed Prime Minister for Indigenous affairs is just trying to save his own job. He does not care about the people and his comments threaten to undo the this country's progress towards reconciliation and closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage.

I will repeat what my uncle, senior Yawuru man Pat Dodson, said earlier this week:

Does Australia want to have a relationship with Aboriginal people, or does it not? Or does it simply want to improve the management and control systems over the lives of Aboriginal people? That is the seminal issue.

This Thursday is National Close the Gap Day. I pose this question to the minister and to the Prime Minister: which gap will you be closing?

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am somewhat saddened in rising to speak on this MPI. Listening to Senator Peris highlighted for me exactly why we have to work so much harder to close the gap. It particularly saddens me that this MPI reads:

The impact of the Abbott Government’s decision to cut half a billion dollars from Indigenous programs in its first Budget.

It saddens me because this is the second time today I have risen to speak about the blatant untruths being told in policy areas of such social importance. The first time was on the higher education system and the blatant untruths that were being told to scare students and those on the crossbenches.

This time it is in relation to the problems and the issues that Senator Peris has just so eloquently discussed.

Senator Lines interjecting—

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask those opposite to afford me the same respect I showed them in listening to their contributions on this serious issue. The reason I am saddened about speaking in this debate is that Labor is clearly using our most vulnerable people—people for whom we really do need to close the gap—for yet another cheap political scare campaign. It saddens not only me but, I know, a great many other people on this side.

Senator Siewert, in her contribution, said that this country's debt was irrelevant to this debate. I almost did a double-take—how, possibly, can our nation's enormous debt be irrelevant to this debate? Labor's mismanagement of the country's finances and the legacy of debt and deficit they have left us mean that all programs have to be reviewed. The budget savings made in the Indigenous Affairs portfolio have been explained many times—and they were explained again very eloquently just then by the minister. They do not, as Labor keeps wrongly claiming, impact on the delivery of services. As the minister said, the savings made in this area amount to $60 million a year. That is against a total spend of $4.9 billion a year. That is less than five per cent. The minister has said time and time again very clearly and has provided the evidence that these savings go into efficiencies and behind-the-scene administration. They are not $500 million and they do not go against the delivery of the services that were being discussed by those opposite. So not $1 of these savings—which are far less than those opposite are claiming—impacts on the delivery of services to Indigenous services. However, the government did, as part of its pre-election promise to cut the burden of red tape, remove what can only be described as a bewildering array of bureaucratic processes in the Indigenous Advancements Strategy. This is now allowing public servants to spend their time where it is most needed in the regional networks working with Indigenous groups at the local level.

We are in the process of transforming Indigenous affairs to a very different and far more streamlined model to make more effective use of the resources available. As we have just heard from Senator Peris, what we have done in the past, over many governments and over many decades, is clearly not working. Just mindlessly continuing to fund resources and services that are not closing the gap enough is not good enough. Labor's budget blow-out and economic mismanagement at the Indigenous portfolio level has resulted in more unsafe neighbourhoods and the number of adults and children in education and the workplace actually declining. Again, that is not good enough. More of the same is simply not an option for this government.

We intend to turn it around and we intend to do it much better. This government, in fact, has signed off on over $860 million worth of investments in the Indigenous Advancement Strategy funding round to ensure that the government continues to deliver our key priorities: to get children to school and adults to work, and to make communities safer. This funding will assist 964 Indigenous organisations to deliver nearly 1,300 projects to Indigenous communities right across Australia. That is far from the story peddled by those opposite in this MPI. What they do not tell the Australian people is that not only is the amount of the cuts and where it is coming from not true but under competitive funding processes not everybody will be happy. They were not happy under your government when you had to make choices about funding arrangements, and they will not be happy under new competitive funding arrangements. Tough decisions have always to be made, and we need to ensure these decisions are followed through. But I will remind this place that over $860 million worth of new investments are being made by this government and funding will assist 964 organisations to deliver nearly 1,300 projects right across this country—a very different story from what we are hearing from those opposite.

This government truly does believe that Indigenous Australians deserve a much better future and that we have to do everything we can to close the gap. But more job opportunities are required. We need to empower individuals and communities. We need to promote and encourage, so as to result in higher standards of living. The initiatives we are taking in this area are a genuine attempt to ensure that we move closer to making these goals a reality. I believe that, rather than moving motions such as this MPI today, which is clearly designed for a political purpose and is untrue, it would be far more productive if those in this place worked together genuinely to close the gap—not for cheap political stunts of the day but to work together to get better outcomes for all Indigenous Australians. They need outcomes. They need a better life. We need to close the gap, and they do not need political stunts.

Glenn Lazarus (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Abbott government promised to take care of our First Australians but, unfortunately, like so many other promises made they have broken this one, as well. Today, I am specifically speaking in relation to Aboriginal legal services. The Abbott government is cutting funding to Aboriginal legal services across the country by $13.4 million over two years, effective from 1 July this year. Aboriginal legal services play a vital role in providing First Australians with relevant and meaningful legal support. Services are based across the country and provide criminal, civil and family law services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their families, among other educational preventative and support services. These services are already provided under the restricted funding arrangements, and service providers have managed to deliver significant value far beyond their budgetary means.

Given the nature of Aboriginal legal services, 80 per cent of operating costs are expended in staff salary costs. The majority of services are legal services provided by practitioners who spend time working one-on-one with First Australians and travelling around the countryside to undertake their role. This means the only way Aboriginal legal services across the country can work within the funding cuts from 1 July is to cut front-line staff, close offices and reduce services. Forty-five per cent of staff across Aboriginal legal services are First Australians. The service is an important employer of First Australians and provides a key role in supporting professional development, career advancement and financial security among the First Australian community.

The Abbott government is not only cutting services to First Australians but it is also taking jobs away from First Australians. It will be First Australians who suffer in every way as a result of these harsh and unnecessary cuts. I have consulted with the community, and the overwhelming feedback is that the cuts to Aboriginal legal services will be severe and will have far reaching and negative consequences. Already, staff around the country employed by Aboriginal legal services are scared and worried about losing their jobs. Staff with experience and understanding of the sector are leaving in search of other employment, morale is low and people have no idea whether they will have a job come 1 July this year. Staff are worried sick about how they are going to pay their mortgages, feed their kids and pay their bills.

Cuts to legal services will involve direct cuts to front-line services, including legal officers who travel to remote communities. This will affect the most disadvantaged in our country. My home state of Queensland covers a large area, including many remote areas. First Australians located in remote areas will be hurt the most as the Aboriginal legal services are the only form of legal support they are able to access. As a result, First Australians in remote communities will be left with no legal support.

First Australians already suffer high incarceration rates. Cutting front-line services means First Australians will no longer be able to access legal help. Courts will clog up and grind to a halt. People will be left to wait in jail cells longer until their cases are heard due to a lack of legal representation. Incarceration rates will skyrocket. Incredibly, at present, Aboriginal legal services across the country still have no idea what their budgets are going to be for the next financial year. While cuts have been announced by the Abbott government, state offices have not yet been formally advised of their forward budgets. Managers are unable to plan or make commitments to staff.

I call on the Abbott government to reverse budget cuts to Aboriginal legal services. Our First Australians deserve better. Living in a remote community is not a lifestyle choice, it is life for Indigenous communities. The Abbott government should respect this and show greater empathy and cooperation towards First Australians and immediately reinstate funding to Australia's Aboriginal legal services.

Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the matter of public importance—the impact of the Abbott government's decision to cut half a billion dollars from Indigenous programs in its first budget. I have to say that on the Labor side we were absolutely insulted to hear government members claim that this is some cheap political trick. The truth speaks for itself.

I want to start first with that insulting comment made by the Prime Minister last week in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, where disadvantage should have been visible on every street corner for the Prime Minister to see. When he claimed it was a lifestyle choice he was simply repeating that time-worn assertion that Aboriginal people represent little else but a drain on the public purse. And that is what we are hearing today in this place from government senators opposite.

I want to move now to some comments that Senator Nash made the other day when she was extolling the virtues of NACCHO. She was saying how she had met with them, how she had regular dialogue with them and what a wonderful organisation they were. I cannot believe that NACCHO would not have raised their concerns about the cuts to frontline services brought on by the Abbott government's harsh and cruel budget. I just cannot believe that, but obviously Senator Nash is either deaf to that or chooses not to mention it.

I want to quote Matthew Cooke, who is the chair of NACCHO. Speaking about the lack of information around funding and the cuts to organisations, he said that 'the result has caused confusion' among his members. He said:

Their concerns are being raised with me every hour of the day since the announcement was made by Minister Scullion.

I cannot believe that, if Senator Nash has this wonderfully close, respectful relationship with NACCHO that they have not raised the cuts with her. Perhaps we need to explore that some more at question time. The chair of NACCHO is saying, well and truly, that there have been cuts to frontline services. So it is not Labor senators saying it; one of the well-respected umbrella groups in Aboriginal health in this country is saying that every hour of the day they are hearing about the cuts.

This decision by the Abbott government to cut half a billion dollars from Aboriginal programs in the government's very first budget is disgraceful. Labor is not raising this here as a political trick or for some political advantage. I want to look at some of the comments that the Prime Minister made when in opposition. He said on 15 March 2013, at one of his favourite institutes, the Sydney Institute:

In any event, “Canberra knows best” will not be an incoming Coalition government’s approach.

I think Aboriginal Australians would say, 'Actually, that is all we have heard. All we have heard is that Canberra knows best.' Again, in that speech at the Sydney Institute on 15 March 2013, Mr Abbott said:

Should the Coalition win the election, Aboriginal people will be at the heart of a new government, in word and in deed.

To cut half a billion dollars from programs is not putting Aboriginal people at the heart of any government. To make the insulting—at one deep level—and ridiculous comment he made about lifestyle choices is not putting Aboriginal people at the heart of government; it is just repeating that time-worn statement that Aboriginal people are somehow a drain on the purse of the nation.

And it does not stop there. Senator Scullion said in the Northern Territory that only those providers who are 'completely hopeless'—his words, not mine—at delivering services would miss out on funding. Because we have had Senate estimates we know what has happened. There were 2,472 applications for the Indigenous Advancement Strategy funding. There were 4,948 projects and there were 2,345 organisations of which 1,233 were deemed non-compliant. That could simply mean that they were not incorporated; we do not have the detail of that. That left just 964 successful organisations—40 per cent of those that applied got the funding.

I invite Senator Reynolds to visit some of the organisations in Western Australia that have been defunded. Last week I was in Geraldton. I get angry even thinking about it. The federal government, through its budget cuts—whether it is to the council, the local legal service or the education support services—have cut millions of dollars out of that town. That will have repercussions right up to the Pilbara. That is what the Abbott government has done. There is service after service that has simply lost money; $534 million has been ripped from programs and front-line services. I witnessed that firsthand in Geraldton. I did not even have to go very far. I would challenge Senator Reynolds to get out of Perth and go and visit some of those front-line services that have lost funding.

I do not know what Minister Scullion proposes to do with the rest of the money that is apparently in his $2 billion kitty—there is a lot of it left. But, in the meantime, perhaps he could fund some of the services that have been lost. Fancy taking funding from smoking programs! Why would you do that when we have very poor health outcomes and the measure for that is closing the gap? We have very poor health outcomes—but $165 million has been taken from healthy lifestyle programs and tackling smoking.

We have heard a lot in this Senate recently—and, indeed, in this parliament—about family violence and partner violence. Yet what we have seen is $3.6 million cut from family violence prevention and legal services. Again, the West Australian service is a fine service that has been around for a very long time; they are not sure what is going to happen in their future. We have had child-care services in the north-west of Western Australia lose their funding and we have had cuts to community legal services. I witnessed that firsthand, again, in Geraldton last week. They have taken $15.6 million from community legal services.

It does not matter how you put it, they have been cut. Not only that—they have also been gagged. Part of their new contract says that they cannot come out and criticise the government. Even if the government chooses to gag those services, Labor will continue to criticise the government for gagging those services and cutting their funding. We will not see improvements in Closing the Gap targets if we have to continue to witness this disgraceful attack on front-line services which is cutting their budgets, cutting their voices and leaving them without any funding at all.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have listened to this debate carefully during the course of the afternoon. I want to attach myself to one of the remarks made by the minister in his contribution: this issue is simply far too important to be politicised by the Senate, when having regard to the facts. If you had listened to the contributions made by the Greens and those opposite you would wonder where their research has taken them. Statements made by them cannot be supported by the empirical evidence that is available in relation to this important subject.

I have been in this chamber for months now, listening to any number of answers provided, not just by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, but by other ministers who have exposure in this portfolio area; and, clearly, those who have made a contribution today from the other side have not listened once to the explanations provided over that time. The minister articulated quite clearly today the adjustments with respect to the funding; and the previous speaker, on two occasions, made comments about funding cuts of one billion dollars, only to correct that in the last part of her presentation. I ask: how can you get that figure so wrong?

We know that the impact of the reduction in funding, spread over a period of time, is less than 0.01 per cent of the money that this government is spending in the area of Indigenous affairs. Mind you, when it comes to a contribution from the Greens, I expect nothing less. They have devoted 90 per cent of their time to talking about kangaroos, possums, coral and closing down the resource sector; there are hours and hours of contributions about the merits of the introduction of wind turbines. The only time—and I spend a lot of time in this chamber in the whip's position, a lot more than anybody else—

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, I do not know about that!

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will defer only to you, Senator. I have never heard them raise these subjects or these concerns before. But we do not expect them to support anything the government does. In the 387 divisions that have occurred in this Senate during the term of this government, the Greens have voted with the government on 13 occasions. Let me say that one more time: out of almost 400 divisions, they have voted with the government on 13 occasions. I was present on one of those occasions, when it was accidental—they simply were not quick enough to get up and get across the chamber. So when their contribution attacks the government it is expected, because everything—every contribution they make to every single debate in this place—is antigovernment. They should go home and crawl into bed with Senator Lambie because, between them, they are determined never to support an initiative of the government. They do not allow any of the facts—facts on the public record—to intimidate them with respect to their presentations. It is a shame—an absolute shame.

When we come to those opposite, who have been critical of some of the outcomes in this space, it is a matter of public record that when they are referring to Closing the Gap outcomes that have been published, they refer to those from their term of government. They refer back to their own failures. This government is determined, and this has been expressed many, many times, to produce outcomes in the areas of getting people to work in our Indigenous communities; producing a safer environment, where acts of violence are not multiples of 10 times more likely to occur, particularly to women and children in those communities, than they are in mainstream Australia; providing access to education; and providing a safe environment where people have access to meaningful work.

Senator Wright interjecting—

You may disagree with it, Senator, but you should—

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Through you, Mr Acting Deputy President Williams—

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is better.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

the good senator should sit and listen until I finish the statement before she starts to resist it. It is through providing people the opportunity to have meaningful work, providing them with access to education—where 87 per cent of them did not have proper access to education under a government that you supported—and producing safer environments and safer communities. It is through that pathway that we will get the success in Indigenous affairs that it deserves.

I have to tell you your weakness. Your weakness in your attack is Senator Nigel Scullion. That is where your weakness is to the core. For the first time in generations, we have a minister in this space—

Opposition senators interjecting—

I know it is inconvenient. For the first time in generations, we have a minister in this space who not only understands the task; this man did not stand in a conga line waiting to get whatever the next portfolio was. He was handpicked by a Prime Minister who is determined to close the gap and provide the very best circumstances for Indigenous Australia. Governments of all persuasions have failed, decade after decade.

The weakness in your argument is the man. The man who is determined to provide these outcomes is not going to stand by and allow impractical programs to go ahead. He will see that every dollar of this Commonwealth is invested in a way that will produce outcomes and he will do something you did not do: he will measure them. I tell you what: you taught the minister a lesson.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. Senator O'Sullivan made a statement about the Greens earlier that we have never raised this issue. He is either deliberately misleading the chamber or he is mistaken. Either way, could he please use his last 30 seconds to correct the record. I have been in here for nearly 10 years repeatedly raising these issues, so he should apologise.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do you have a point of order, Senator Siewert? This is a debating point of order.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take the interjection. What I said was that in the time that I have been in the chamber, I heard you talk about possums, kangaroos, coral reefs and all sorts of other things but never on these important matters of Indigenous affairs. Through you, Mr Acting Deputy President—

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, a further point of order. He has repeated his mistake or he is deliberately misleading this chamber. He should withdraw and correct the record.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Siewert, this is a debating point not a point of order.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me close by saying that I invite those opposite, particularly the Greens, to not politicise what is a significantly important issue to this nation.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time for the discussion has expired.