Patrick Dodson (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Reconciliation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Ruston. I refer to the fact that five out of the seven Closing the Gap targets have not been met or are not on track. Will one of the 14 new targets to be set in April be a justice target?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Dodson, for your question—all the more pertinent because it is today. In relation to the new targets that will be set following consultation with the peaks and through the COAG process, obviously that is something that I'm more than happy to take on notice and ask the Minister for Indigenous Australians to respond to the specifics of the last part of your question.

More broadly in relation to closing the gap, I think everybody in this place—on this side, on that side, on the crossbenches and in the other place—accepts the fact that today the update on the Closing the Gap targets was not what we would have liked to have seen. However, I can assure this place and I can assure all Australians—Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians—that this government is absolutely committed to working with Indigenous Australians on closing the gap, to make sure every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in this country grows up with the same opportunities as every other Australian.

We also understand the progress that we've made over the previous decade has not been successful, and I think today everybody has acknowledged the reason it hasn't been successful is because it has been a top-down approach used by governments of different persuasions and in different places, both here in Canberra and around Australia. But today probably heralds one of the most important changes, and that is changing how we intend to approach addressing the Closing the Gap targets and initiatives. That will be by greater consultation with Indigenous Australians and starting to build on the way that we approach this by being informed and consulted and designed by Indigenous Australians. So whilst today has not been the day that we would have liked to have seen—we would like to have seen significant improvement in the Closing the Gap indicators—I think we can celebrate the fact that we have acknowledged we haven't done well in the past and must do better in the future.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Dodson, a supplementary question.

Patrick Dodson (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Reconciliation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two years ago the First Nations peoples delivered the Uluru Statement from the Heart and offered a clear pathway forward. Will the Morrison government hold a referendum in this term to enshrine a First Nations voice to parliament in the Constitution?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Dodson, for your question. The one thing that the government has absolutely given a categorical commitment on is to work with First Australians to make sure that whatever is designed and whatever is developed, as we move forward in ongoing recognition of Indigenous Australians, will be informed by a co-design process where Indigenous Australians and Indigenous communities are absolutely at the forefront of that design process.

In fact, I just met with the head of the peaks to talk to them about specific initiatives that sit within my portfolio area so that we can make sure what we're doing is being far better informed about what Indigenous Australians want. The only way we are going to get a successful outcome in closing the gap going forward is making sure the design of the methods by which we go about closing that gap are being designed by our Indigenous Australians.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Dodson, a final supplementary question.

Patrick Dodson (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Reconciliation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the government has ruled out enshrining a voice to parliament in the Constitution, what form of constitutional change is the government proposing?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Dodson. What I'd like to really reiterate is the fact that this is an iterative process. It's a process of co-design. The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, has made it very, very clear that he intends to continue to work in a collaborative way with all Australians, but particularly with Indigenous Australians, about our pathway forward on constitutional recognition and how the voices of Indigenous Australians are going to be heard into the future.

Today, as we celebrate the new way forward and acknowledge the bad outcomes of the past, we are talking about moving forward in a new way with Indigenous Australians to make sure that the process of closing the gap is informed by Indigenous Australians. We can't shy away from the fact that the results today have not been what we would have wanted. I am not shying away from that, the Prime Minister doesn't shy away from that and the Minister for Indigenous Australians doesn't shy away from that. The results today were not good. (Time expired)