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

It being just past 5 pm, and pursuant to order, I will call Senator Hanson to make her first speech, and ask that honourable senators extend the usual courtesies to Senator Hanson. I call Senator Hanson.

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

First of all, I would like to welcome everyone in this house and thank you for your attendance. It is very much appreciated. When I cast my mind back to the last day on the floor of the House of Representatives in 1998, just prior to the election, I called out across the chamber, 'I will be back!' Those around me cried out, 'No, you won't!' My electorate boundaries were changed, forcing me to stand for the new seat of Blair. Also with the introduction of full preferential voting, this cost me the seat. Although I polled 36 per cent of the primary vote, this was not enough against the Liberals' 21 per cent and Labor's preferences delivering them the seat.

It has taken numerous elections, countless legal battles and doing a stint in maximum security on trumped-up charges—of which former speaker Bronwyn Bishop stated I was Australia's first political prisoner—to find myself here. Some call it persistence and tenacity. My daughter describes it as a Johnny Farnham comeback. I call it standing up and fighting for what you believe in and not allowing the bastards to grind you down. So, to all my peers in this place and those from the past, I have two words for you: I'm back—but not alone.

I cannot begin to express the pride and honour I have in being joined in this place by three of my colleagues—Senator Malcolm Roberts, also representing Queensland; New South Wales Senator Brian Burston; and Western Australian Senator Rod Culleton—elected under Pauline Hanson's One Nation. As a strong, united team I guarantee we will make a difference.

It has been 20 years and four days since I last delivered my first speech in this house, a speech that shook a nation, woke up many Australians and gave hope to those who thought no-one was listening. That speech was relevant then and it is still relevant today. The problem is we have not had leaders with the foresight or the intestinal fortitude to cast aside political correctness. They have failed to discard old treaties and agreements that are not in our best interest and have signed new ones giving away our sovereignty, rights, jobs and democracy. Their push for globalisation, economic rationalism, free trade and ethnic diversity has seen our country's decline. This is due to foreign takeover of our land and assets, out-of-control debt, failing infrastructure, high unemployment or underemployment and the destruction of our farming sector. Indiscriminate immigration and aggressive multiculturalism have caused crime to escalate and trust and social cohesion to decline. Too many Australians are afraid to walk alone at night in their neighbourhoods. Too many of us live in fear of terrorism.

In my first speech in 1996 I said we were in danger of being swamped by Asians. This was not said out of disrespect for Asians but was meant as a slap in the face to both the Liberal and Labor governments who opened the floodgates to immigration, targeting cultures purely for the vote, as expressed by former Labor minister Barry Jones—to such an extent that society changed too rapidly due to migrants coming in the front door but also the back door, via New Zealand. Now we are in danger of being swamped by Muslims, who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own.

I love my country, culture and way of life. My pride and patriotism were instilled in me from an early age when I watched the Australian flag raised every morning at school and sang the national anthem; watching our athletes compete on the world stage, proud to salute the Australian flag being raised to honour them as they took their place on podiums. It is about belonging, respect and commitment to fight for Australia. This will never be traded or given up for the mantras of diversity or tolerance. Australia had a national identity before Federation, and it had nothing to do with diversity and everything to do with belonging. Tolerance has to be shown by those who come to this country for a new way of life. If you are not prepared to become Australian and give this country your undivided loyalty, obey our laws, respect our culture and way of life, then I suggest you go back where you came from. If it would be any help, I will take you to the airport and wave you goodbye with sincere best wishes.

Australia is predominantly a Christian country, but our government is secular. Our Constitution prevents governments from imposing religious rule and teachings. The separation of church and state has become an essential component of our way of life, and anything that threatens that separation threatens our freedom. Australia has embraced migrants from all different races, making us one of the most multiracial nations on earth. Most have assimilated and are proud to call themselves Australians, accepting our culture, beliefs and laws. I welcome them from the bottom of my heart. As they integrate and assimilate, the disruption caused by diversity diminishes.

Why then has Islam and its teachings had such an impact on Australia like no other religion? Islam sees itself as a theocracy. Islam does not believe in democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or freedom of assembly. It does not separate religion and politics. It is partly a religion, but it is much more than that. It has a political agenda that goes far outside the realm of religion. It regulates Muslims' social and domestic life, their legal system and politics—their total life.

Australia is now seeing changes in suburbs predominantly Muslim. Tolerance towards other Australians is no longer the case. Our law courts are disrespected and prisons have become breeding grounds for Muslims to radicalise inmates. Muslims are imprisoned at almost three times the average rate. The rate of unemployed and public dependency is two to three times greater than the national average. Muslims are prominent in organised crime, with associated violence and drug dealing. Antisocial behaviour is rampant, fuelled by hyper-masculine and misogynist culture. Multiple social surveys find that neighbourhoods of Muslim settlement are suffering from collapsing social cohesion and fear of crime. Australians, in general, are more fearful.

Not only is terrorism seen around the world but it is now part of our society, with Muslim refugees involved in the Lindt Cafe siege, the Curtis Cheng murder in Sydney and the stabbing of the two police officers in Melbourne. The Grand Mufti and other Muslim leaders are deafening with their silence, or lack of sympathy. Radicalisation is happening on our streets, in our suburbs and mosques. Yet, our leaders continue to tell us to be tolerant and embrace the good Muslims. But how should we tell the difference? There is no sign saying 'good Muslim' or 'bad Muslim'. How many lives will be lost or destroyed trying to determine who is good and who is bad?

Many more Australian Muslims have volunteered, or have tried to volunteer, to fight for ISIS than we have in our own Defence Force. ASIO has over 509 terrorist suspects under surveillance. Civil tension is on the rise across the country, led by Australians feeling the impact of Islam in their lives and a distaste for its beliefs. Their tolerance to our customs has seen Christmas carols no longer sung at some schools and Bibles not to be found in most hospitals. Some public swimming baths have times set aside for Muslim women only, and drivers licenses are obtained by Muslim women wearing the burqa and niqab. Prayer rooms are now provided in universities, hospitals, schools, airports and shopping centres to accommodate Muslims.

Halal certification tax has been forced upon us, costing Australians approximately $10 million a year. Halal certification is not a religious requirement but a moneymaking racket, and certification is unnecessary for Muslims' welfare because non-halal products can be consumed, provided the word 'Bismillah' is said over the food and a prayer is recited. Muslims want to see sharia law introduced in Australia. This law is a totalitarian civil code which prescribes harsh feudal rules imposed on everything, firstly for Muslims, later for everyone. As long as Islam is considered a religion, sharia conflicts with our secular state.

Islam cannot have a significant presence in Australia if we are to live in an open, secular and cohesive society. Never before in Australia's history have we seen civil unrest and terror associated with a so-called religion, or from followers of that faith. We have seen the destruction that it is causing around the world. If we do not make changes now, there will be no hope in the future. Have no doubt that we will be living under sharia law and treated as second-class citizens with second-class rights if we keep heading down the path with the attitude, 'She'll be right, mate.'

Therefore, I call for stopping further Muslim immigration and banning the burqa, as they have done in many countries around the world. Burqas are not a religious requirement. Most Australians find them confronting, as did two of our former prime ministers. I am sure a lot of the women forced to wear them would love to cast them aside but live in fear to do so. In addition, no more mosques or schools should be built, and those that already exist should be monitored with regard to what they are teaching until the present crisis is over. Sharia law should not be acknowledged or allowed. And Australian companies should be banned from paying for halal certification.

Australians have never been permitted to vote on immigration and multiculturalism. When have we been asked or consulted about our population? We reached a population of 24 million this year, 17 years ahead of prediction. Governments have continually brought in high levels of immigration, so they say, to stimulate the economy. This is rubbish. The economy is stimulated by funding infrastructure projects, creating employment. What major projects have we had in this country for the past 30 years? How many dams have we built in the past 50 years? The only stimulation that is happening is welfare handouts—many going to migrants unable to get jobs. At present, our immigration intake is 190,000 a year. High immigration is only beneficial to multinationals, banks and big business, seeking a larger market while everyday Australians suffer from this massive intake. They are waiting longer for their life-saving operation. The unemployment queues grow longer—and even longer when government jobs are given priority to migrants. Our city roads have become parking lots. Schools are bursting at the seams. Our aged and sick are left behind to fend for themselves. And many cities and towns struggle to provide water for an ever-growing population. Our service providers struggle to cope, due to a lack of government funding, leaving it to charities to pick up the pieces. Governments, both state and federal, have a duty of care to the Australian people. Clean up your own backyard before flooding our country with more people who are going to be a drain on our society. I call for a halt to further immigration and for government to first look after our aged, the sick and the helpless.

Foreign investment and foreign ownership are great concerns. The government finally released its register of foreign ownership, which reveals that foreign interests owned 13.6 per cent of Australia's farmland. That is 52 million hectares. It includes 30 per cent of the Northern Territory's farmland and 22 per cent of Tasmania's. The register fails to show the quality of the foreign owned land. Is it the jewels in the nation's agricultural crown? Let's have a register on all land owned by foreigners, including non-agricultural land and housing. And why is there no information on who owns our country's vital irrigation and water assets, despite this being promised? The registry is a disgrace. It makes me wonder whose interests this government is serving. Australia needs a national government, not a corporate one, not a union one, and not an alternative lifestyle one. Any foreign ownership is regrettable, but why are we allowing the Chinese government, an oppressive communist regime, to own our land and assets? Why are we allowing our ports, utilities, services, agricultural land, and industries, to be acquired by foreigners of any nationality?

It is foolhardy to sell our water, agricultural land—our food source!—essential services and ports. This is not in Australia's national or security interests. This foreign takeover is destroying small towns across the nation. A farm once the home of an Australian family is now run by a manager. People move, less money is spent, schools lose students and then the town starts to die. Now these foreign owned properties become food bowls for their own countries. Tax is avoided, or very little paid, because they go straight from paddock to plate. Transfer pricing, which involves minimising taxation by artificially charging high prices or operating costs to subsidiaries in Australia, and other forms of tax minimisation, are a certainty.

Housing is beyond the dreams of ordinary Australians. Why? Because they cannot afford to buy, due to foreign investors driving up prices. Officially, foreigners can only buy new housing, but this is not policed. If the Liberal Party wants a pat on the back for having reduced the purchase price to $15million before it has to go to the Foreign Investment Review Board, they will not get it from me. I intend to give them a kick up the backside. Australians have given their lives protecting this great land from foreign takeover. I can guarantee most did not want to go to war but knew it was their duty to ensure their loved ones lived in peace. But, more importantly, they fought for freedom.

I want Australian land, houses and companies to remain locally owned, and I believe I speak for the majority of Australians. Our land and assets are not for sale. Governments are only caretakers of our assets. No contract has been signed giving them permission to sell them. If they cannot rein in the budget with overpaid public servants—one being the head of Australia Post, who is on $4.8 million per year—foreign aid, welfare fraud, politicians lurks and perks, including former prime ministers, and backroom deals for government jobs, then get out of the job of running this country. I warn this government and future governments: you never miss the water till the well runs dry.

Australia's federal gross debt is currently $499 billion. Our interest payments are over $43.5 million a day. Out-of-control government spending, mismanagement of taxpayers' dollars, multinationals not paying their fair share of tax and welfare that was introduced to provide for the aged and sick, or as a helping hand for those going through tough times, has now become a way of life for some and is abused and rorted by others. Welfare costs the Australian taxpayer approximately $158 billion a year and this is expected to rise to $191 billion by 2019-20. Nearly one half of our budget is spent on welfare. This is out of control and must be reined in.

Farmers are screaming out for workers and small businesses have difficulty in finding people who want to work. Welfare is not a right, unless you are aged or sick. It is a privilege paid for by hard-working Australians. I support the government in wanting to stop school leavers going immediately onto welfare. What message are we sending them? Teach them how to apply for a job, rather than encouraging them to become dependent on money they have neither earned nor worked for. Then we have the single mums having more children just to maintain their welfare payments, and Muslim men marrying multiple wives, under their laws, then having multiple children at our expense while they collect thousands of dollars a week from the taxpayer. How many have ever held a job? Why would anyone want to work when welfare is so very lucrative? If people bring children into the world, it is their responsibility not the taxpayers'. Therefore, I propose that if a woman has a child, the taxpayer will support the first child, but, if they have more, there will be no increase to the welfare payment. Get a job and start taking responsibility for your own actions.

Not only are we facing a crisis with welfare but also with our health budget. It also is being scammed, abused and rorted and is costing taxpayers billions. The Health Care Card has no identification on it, just a name and number. Anyone can, and does, take another person's card when visiting a doctor, especially those who bulk-bill. Prescriptions are collected at a cost to the taxpayer, if the cardholder is on welfare. Overseas tourists, illegals and those not entitled to Medicare use their family's card or a friend's card. Let me give an example. When one tourist visiting family fell sick, he went to the doctor and used his cousin's Medicare card. He ended up in hospital and died. The owner of the card had to admit it was not he. 'What happened?' you ask. Well, he just had to pay the hospital bill.

We have to stop the rorts, mismanagement and abuse of our taxpayer-funded services, whether it be welfare, health or education. If you want to access these services then apply for an Australian identity card. You must prove you are entitled to apply for the card on a points system. There should not be any complaints because applying for a $30 phone plan is the same. So I will not accept do-gooders complaining about people's privacy. The card will have an identification chip, a photo and electronic fingerprint. If we are ever going to pull back our deficit we must stop the thieves. If you are not prepared to apply for the card, that is your choice, but expect to pay full price for doctors and prescriptions, and no more welfare handouts will be coming your way.

Family Law would be the most discriminatory, biased and unworkable policy in this country. I referred to it in my maiden speech 20 years ago and still nothing has changed—if anything, it is worse. As a nation, we should hang our heads in shame when, on average, three men, and occasionally a woman, suicide a day due to family breakdowns. The whole system is unworkable and is in desperate need of change. Children are used as pawns in custody battles where women make frivolous claims and believe they have the sole right to the children. Children have two parents and, until we treat mums and dads with the same courtesy and rights, we will continue to see murders due to sheer frustration and depression and mental illness caused by this unworkable system. Suicide is the only way out for those who feel there is no hope after facing years of costly legal battles. Their lives having been destroyed and the pain of missing their children are the reasons many end up in a state of depression caused by the trauma and in some cases the blatant vindictiveness from former partners.

Child support is another contentious issue and should be revised. Some parents are left caring and providing for children without any financial help from the other parent. Others refuse to work so they do not have to pay child support. The system needs to be balanced, taking in the age of the child on a sliding scale and both parents' incomes should be taken into account. Non-custodial parents find it hard to restart their lives, with excessive child support payments that see their former partners live a very comfortable life. Make it fair with both custody and child support and most parents will gladly take on their responsibility.

I ask all parents: is it worth the pain and anguish to deny your child the love they so deserve from both parents? They are only children for such a short time and all children need both parents. Please put your differences aside, make your peace and come to agreements outside of law courts. The only ones to gain are the legal professions, who are rubbing their hands together watching the thousands of dollars coming their way. Is it worth losing the family home? Is it worth the grief it brings not only to you but also to your extended families, not to mention the children? At the end of the day, the answer is no. I speak from experience not only as a mum myself but also as a grandmother.

I am not going to do a Derryn Hinch and speak for 45 minutes—oh, he still awake! I have a lot more to say but I have six years in this place—Derryn, sorry, you only have three—so there will be plenty of time. Oh, I can feel the Greens cringing—no they have left—and squirming in their seats at the thought that I could possibly be here for six years.

In closing, I will finish on this note: very few of us ever travel a journey alone and nor should we. Our loved ones and friends we have accumulated along the way are an integral part of who we are. Three of my children are here today. They have been with me every step of the way sharing my triumphs and battles, my high points and the lowest in my life. I did not know my life was going to be such a roller-coaster of a ride. I love you with all my heart. But I hate to tell you guys: it's not over yet; buckle up.

There are those who kept the political party I launched in 1997 alive for 13 years after I left in 2002 till I came back in November 2014. Special thanks to Ian Nelsen for never giving up and for asking me to come back and lead the party. James Ashby is a man I have the utmost respect and admiration for. Like myself, the establishment has also kicked him about unfairly. Your dedication and hard work beside me added up to the clincher that not only saw me win my seat but also saw the other senators win their seats. With deep appreciation and sincerity, thank you.

Thanks to Sarah Beric. You took on a task unbeknown to you, from performing as a professional violinist to running a political office and campaigns. You have been invaluable. A couple of strangers came along at the right time, helped me spread my wings and gave me the support and assistance I needed that now see me standing on this floor today. These people are no longer strangers but dear friends, welcome at home any time for another lamb roast. Thank you, Bill and Renatta.

As I said earlier, I was imprisoned in 2003 for three years, held in maximum security on electoral fraud charges. My sentence was quashed on appeal after 11 weeks. If it were not for my sister Judy and brother Peter fighting for my freedom and justice—and Alan Jones, along with approximately 90 per cent of Australians who believed I was wrongly imprisoned—I would have been behind bars for three years. My father always said, 'Politics is a dirty game.' I was one of seven children and the quiet one of the family—believe it or not! Believe me: you are lucky to have me here and not the rest of the Seccombe clan. We come from a breed of Australians who were taught values, morals, honesty, work ethic and common sense—things very much lacking today.

I will never take my position as a senator in this place for granted and nor should I. To the people of Queensland and Australia who voted for me and my party: thank you. You have given me a great honour. Now it is up to me to prove my worth to you. I can guarantee Pauline Hanson is a name that carries with it independence, honesty, assurance, quality and reliability—things the Chinese can never buy. Also, Halal snack packs are never provided—isn’t that right, Sam?

Mr President and my fellow senators: thank you for your indulgence. We may not agree on everything but we need to work together for the future of our country and its people. I look forward to working with each and every one of you, including the Greens, if you are prepared to see this country prosper rather than shut down.

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

Order! I am sure there is no need for me to remind senators of the convention to allow the senator to be heard in silence.

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yuwu bajinda nya-wirdi kulu kirna-balirra yinda nyawirdi nyuwu-ja barrawu, bajirru yiurru wiji marnajingulaji ngathangka, bajirru yirru li-wirdiwalangu ji-awarawu li-Ngunawal Ngambri barra jina barra awara yirrunga, bajrru li-ngaha li-malarngu marnaji anka nya-ngathanya bii, li-ngatha kulhakulha, li-ngatha li-nganji karnirru-balirra.

Yes, let us begin. You are there, senior one—Mr President. We have no word for 'President' in Yanyuwa, so I refer to you as 'senior one'. And I thank you for this place, and for all you others also here with me, and you, the traditional owners, the Ngunawal and Ngambri, for this country. This is your country.

To my family and friends who are here today: thank you. Thank you for making the journey. I especially acknowledge my father, John McCarthy, and my son Grayson, who are here with me. And I know my son CJ is watching from his university room in Dallas, Texas; a big hello to you, my son. And to Adam, sitting for his year 11 exam: good luck to you, my son.

I am here today starting off with Yanyuwa, the language of my mother's families in Borroloola in the Gulf of Carpentaria, nearly 1,000 kilometres south-east of Darwin. My families, they gave me this language, the language of my country. I am a woman whose spirit has come from the salt water, and we are known as li-antha wirriyarra, which means our spiritual origin comes from the sea—from the sea country. And I welcome my Kuku, John Bradley and Nona. Thank you. Bauji barra.

The old people would sing the kujika, the songline. They would follow the path of many kujika, the songlines, like the brolga, the kurdarraku, of my grandmother's country—the beautiful brolga country; the country where my spirit always returns to. They would sing of the shark dreaming, and how it travelled from Queensland all the way down the coast to the gulf country and out to the islands of my families. And we dance the dance of the mermaids, the ngardiji, the ngardiji kujika of the Gulf and Barkly country, linking so many of our first nations peoples.

I grew up with the old men and women, the marlbu and barrdi bardis, and I am here thinking about them now, and I am thinking about my own path. My road has been a long road like the song, the kujika, that belongs to the old people. And I am standing here in this place, the Australian Senate, in the place of the people, to represent not just my own people—the Yanyuwa, the Garrwa, the Mara and the Kudanji peoples—but to stand for all people of the Northern Territory: all clan groups, all families who call the Northern Territory home, whether they live on the vast cattle stations of the Northern Territory or whether they have travelled from countries like Asia, Africa or the Middle East to forge a new life for their families away from strife-torn lives that offered no future. I stand here for you, too.

In 1842, my McCarthy ancestor sailed the seas from Ireland aboard the ship Palestine to Australia. And he did not come as a convict like hundreds of others before him; instead, he came as a free man. He chose to come, to make this country his home, not just for him but for his young family, to live in Australia, to build his future, his dream, in the land of opportunity, an unknown land yet filled with much hope and prosperity.

It was on the north coast of New South Wales that he made his home as the local magistrate. In the years and decades that followed, his descendants would toil on the land as farmers and timber-getters before my grandad, Alf McCarthy, then moved to Sydney to work in a box factory at Chiswick and then became a tram conductor on the Sydney trams. Along with my grandmother, Mary, they would raise their three sons: my dad, John McCarthy, who is here today; my Uncle Ray, who is also here, with Aunt Angela, and their children and grandchildren; and my Uncle Kevin, along with his wife, Regina, who are sending all their love now as I speak. I am deeply thankful for the love, support and richness in wisdom of my McCarthy families, as I am of my Yanyuwa and Garrawa families. Yo yamalu bingi; it makes my spirit feel really good.

I share with you all my kujika, my songline that weaves its way from the gulf country across the first-nation's lands of Aboriginal people in Australia. As a journalist, a storyteller for 20 years—for the ABC, for SBS and for the much-needed NITV—I was able to tell the stories of the lives of thousands and thousands of Australians, and even internationally, with the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network, trying to improve the lives of Indigenous people the world over through Indigenous media. I commend wholeheartedly the work of Indigenous media in Australia. Our country needs you. I especially want to acknowledge amazing women journalists, like those in the gallery today: the ABC's Lindy Kerin, NITV's Natalie Ahmat and the awesome, inspiring Caroline Jones.

I am honoured to be elected to represent all people of the Northern Territory in this chamber—to the Australian Senate—and to do so as a member of the Australian Labor Party.

As my McCarthy ancestor sailed his way across the seas to Australia, my Yanyuw ancestors sailed their way across the northern seas from the gulf country, to the land of the Macassan, Sulawesi, to the Torres Strait through to Papua New Guinea. The Macassans traded with the Yanyuwa, as they did with the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land and the Anindilyakwa people of Groote Eylandt and the Nungubuyu people of Numbulwar. All of us are interconnected through kujika, through songline. For example, the brolga kujika connects the families of Numbulwar and Groote Eylandt with our families in the gulf country. That is the law of the first-nation's peoples that defines our connection to country and culture and kin.

In the eyes of first-nation's people, cultural exchange both amongst clan groups within Australia and with people outside Australia was a natural part of life well before Captain Cook arrived in 1788. There was already a thriving economic foreign trade occurring between Australia and with countries to our north. It is Aboriginal people who were the diplomats with foreign countries, the trading partners who shared knowledge and exchanged agriculture and marine sources of food and tools in the form of harpoons for hunting and knowledge of carving canoes to set sail in the unpredictable wet season seas. Only last month, in the landmark native title hearing in Borroloola, this diplomatic mission between the Yanyuwa and the Macassans was formally recognised in the Western system of law. The Federal Court recognised this relationship. Yet Aboriginal people have always had a system of governance here, and in Yanyuw we refer to it through the kujika.

In 1966, when Vincent Lingiari led the Wave Hill Walk-Off, demanding equal pay and equal rights for his country men and women, my families in the gulf country supported his fight for justice and that of the Gurindji people. So too did thousands of other Australians across the country who believed in a fair go for all. In recent weeks the Gurindji commemorated 50 years since the walk-off and recognised the important role Australian unions played in the late sixties supporting those Australians who could not win their battle for equal pay alone.

Still today the union movement stands beside those who push for a better way of life. I acknowledge in particular the support of those in the gallery today, such as Kay Densley, with the CPSU NT, and her team. Special thanks to Joseph Scales of the Australian Services Union, the MUA and, yes, the CFMEU, as well as United Voice, the ETU, the AMWU and the ACTU. The Turnbull government's decision to go to an early election in the hope of diminishing the role of unions in this country spectacularly backfired when the Australian people moved away from his vision in their thousands. They recognise that trade unions continue to play a vital role in ensuring justice and equity for all Australians, for we all know that pay equity is not fully enjoyed by all Australians, and homelessness has a human face, and sometimes it is much of my family's.

In the kinship way, it is my brother, who prefers to sleep in the long grass in Darwin city because it all becomes too hard. At other times the human face is one of someone who has just given up trying to exist between dispassionate laws and the high expectations of those whose job it is to carry them out. The town of Katherine in the Northern Territory has the highest rate of homelessness in the Territory, while Alice Springs is in desperate need of a visionary future that inspires our youth and lightens the load on families. It is a vision I so much want to work on with my fellow federal colleagues: the member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, and the member for Solomon, Luke Gosling, in paving a future for the Northern Territory filled with much hope and opportunity, and my fellow Indigenous colleagues, Senator Pat Dodson and Linda Burney.

I congratulate Chief Minister Michael Gunner and his NT Labor caucus on their recent victory in the Territory, and I certainly look very much forward to working closely with his team. I thank all the NT Labor branches and party members for your overwhelming support in my election to the Senate. Your faith in me helped to also restore my faith that serving the people of the Territory, and indeed Australia, is an honourable path and one that has ignited my spirit once again after the loss of my seat in Arnhem in the 2012 Territory election.

I sincerely congratulate the new member for Arnhem, Selena Uibo, for restoring this beautiful bush seat back to Labor. I acknowledge most sincerely, too, former senator Nova Peris and, before her, former senator Trish Crossin. Both women have supported me in my road to the Senate here today. For their graciousness, patient advice and respect for the challenges I have had to face to get here, I say a heartfelt thank you. To my staff, Mandy Taylor and Charlie Powling, thank you for joining me on this journey.

When the Commonwealth parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act in 1976, it was the Yanyuwa people who stepped up to claim back our land. As a young girl, I watched my grandparents, my elders, as they prepared to give evidence about how the Yanyuwa cared for country, especially the islands north of Borroloola. They gave evidence in an old police station, and they could pretty much only speak in Yanyuwa. They were difficult times, and trying to give evidence was something that we had to continuously learn from. In that time, we found that we could not explain things as well as we would have liked to the Western understanding of Aboriginal culture.

It was to be another four decades of litigation—in Borroloola, in Darwin and in Melbourne. It was litigation that passed on to us, the Yanyuwa descendants, to continue to fight for recognition of who we are, li-antha wirriyarra, a people whose spiritual origin comes from the sea. But we did not walk that journey alone. It was only possible with the steadfast support of the Northern Land Council, and I acknowledge all those staff and council members over those 40 years who walked with my families.

We talk about recognition of Australia's First Peoples in the Constitution, and I pay tribute to all those in the campaign to support recognition. It is most certainly way overdue, and I say these next sentences without any disrespect to those of you. I urge parliamentarians in both houses to understand this: the Yanyuwa are a people whose struggle for country and recognition took nearly 40 years, and so many elders died well before such recognition and, most importantly, any respect ever took place. Such long, drawn-out legal battles have wearied many families of so many first nation peoples, constantly trying to defend their sense of self, identity and country, who have fought for land rights. Maybe that was the intention; I do not know. Battle fatigued, perhaps we are better to acquiesce. But we are still here, and we are not going to go away.

So I understand fully the impatience and, in some cases, total rejection felt by so many first nation peoples towards the Australian parliament's push for recognition. It is a difficult pill to swallow, as first peoples, to yet again have to ask others to respect us—our place, our culture and our families—in this country, when we know we have been here well over 60,000 years.

With nearly 30 per cent of the Territory population Indigenous, we will only have half a vote in any referendum, let alone a referendum on recognition, because we are not a state. Is it not time to consider seriously a vision for the north and a vision for the future of all our territories such as Christmas and Cocos Islands? We need a vision that unites over 100 Aboriginal language groups just in the Northern Territory alone, the multicultural communities who have made it home and the descendants of the Afghan cameleers and early pioneers.

It is time the Commonwealth encouraged more seriously the growth of the Northern Territory as perhaps the seventh state in the Australian Federation. Allow the people of the Northern Territory to fully make our own decisions, determine our own future, by engaging in a fair partnership so that we, who have won our lands back—nearly 50 per cent of the landmass—and the young people of the Territory feel they have solid employment, a future filled with shared prosperity and hope.

The Commonwealth must prepare a way for the inclusion of more senators and more members of the House of Representatives so that the people of the Territory can become not just a state but an equal state here in the Australian parliament. It might be 10 or 20 years, but let there be a vision that at least starts.

The Mabo court ruling in 1992 overturned terra nullius. Let the people of the Northern Territory overturn the disbelief that even treaties are unattainable in Australia. Let the people of the Northern Territory have a say. In the year of the Mabo decision, I was questioned over my identity as a Yanyuwa Garrawa woman in the Borroloola land claim process. I found the interrogation focused more on how it could be that an educated Aboriginal woman must somehow not be quite real as a traditional owner of country. How could it be possible to be highly educated in the Western world and still live with a deep sense of cultural understanding in a culture thousands of years old?

It was thanks to the firm belief of my father, a school teacher from Sydney who inspired my educational upbringing, both in the Western ways and in maintaining a strong understanding of Borroloola families, kinship and culture shared by my mother—bless her soul—and shared by my maternal grandparents. I was educated in Borroloola, in Alice Springs and in Sydney, and all the while travelling backwards and forwards to the families in the Gulf Country. It was as a little girl in primary school in Alice Springs that I first saw the man who I would one day sit here in the Senate with—Senator Pat Dodson—when he worked with the Catholic Church in Alice Springs.

I would like to acknowledge the staff and students of St Scholastica's College, my former high school, who are present in the gallery today. In 1988, I became the first Aboriginal student to become college captain, and I acknowledge my schoolmates who are here, in particular Yvonne Weldon of the Wiradjuri people of New South Wales and her family, Aunty Ann and the Coe families of Cowra. I pay my respects to the memory of the late great Mum Shirl, who was witness to ensuring that both Yvonne and I would finish well with the Good Sams. Today, another Indigenous student sits in the gallery who will be the 2017 college captain: Alice Dennison. I sincerely wish you all the best. I also acknowledge the students and staff of Saint Ignatius' College, in particular the first nation's students who danced Senator Dodson and I into the Senate on our first day with our fellow senators.

I now ask Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull: please reconsider your plebiscite bill. Please pull back from this brink of public vitriol and make marriage equality a reality in this parliament. We need only be reminded of the hateful and hurtful commentary on race that ended the career of an AFL hero in Swans legend Adam Goodes—do not let that happen here to any of these families in Australia.

My kujika has allowed me to see both worlds—that of the Western world view and that of the Yanyuwa/Garrawa world view. I am at home in both. I am neither one, without the other. But what of those who cannot balance the two and what of those who do not have the same?

I think of the women in my life struggling still just to survive—I call them my mothers, sisters, my friends—who endured tremendous acts of violence against them, with broken limbs, busted faces, amputations and sexual assaults. I stand here with you. My aunt who lost her job that she had had for 10 years without warning simply because she spoke out about the lack of housing for her families, I stand here with you. To the descendants of the stolen generation still seeking closure, I stand with you. To the people with disabilities forever striving for better access to the most basic things in life, I am with you.

And then there is my young cousin-sister who struggled with her identity as a lesbian in a strong traditional Aboriginal culture. Her outward spirit was full of fun and laughter, yet inside she was suffocating from the inability to find balance in her cultural world view and that of the expectations of the broader Australian society around her. So one night she left this world, just gave up, at the age of 23.

To the sista girls and brutha boys who struggle with their sexual identity, I say to you: stay strong, I stand here with you. To the people of the Northern Territory and the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands, I stand here with you.

Bauji Barra. Thank you.