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

I move:

That the Senate agrees that there should be no discrimination based on skin colour, race, religion or ethnic background when determining the level and use of funding in all cases where:

(a) government funding is made available to Australian-based community programs; and

(b) grants are made to assist and empower communities to escape the cycles of poverty, unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, and violence.

I rise to bring to the attention of senators and the people of Australia, yet again, the inequality that exists in the funding of Indigenous programs, and the continuing desperate circumstances of the victims of this financial bastardry and mismanagement. I've learned of this in my many conversations over the years with Indigenous communities across Australia. Unlike many vocal urban Aboriginal elites, I have walked through the streets of remote Aboriginal communities in Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. I have listened and I have understood. Whether it's sitting on the beach on Thursday Island or at the base of Uluru, just being in remote communities and listening to elders and residents has been profound and very informative.

There's not one Indigenous community I've met with that isn't concerned, and they want to share what's going wrong. A lot of these people can't even gain access to their own land, which has in many cases been given back to the registered native title bodies corporate, which are often more restrictive than the government was. Many of these bodies, especially in rural and remote areas, are highly restrictive, to the detriment of the Aboriginal people. Some are charged to go on their ancestral land. Worse still, some are denied access altogether.

But those conversations in both the large communities and the rural and remote locations always turn to the needs that their isolation and situation bring—needs reflected in a lack of adequate housing, a deficiency of infrastructure, widespread alcoholism, out-of-control levels of domestic violence, repeated sexual abuse, including of young children, and a lack of effective pathways to escape the cycles of poverty and unemployment that are often normalised and passed on from generation to generation. Those communities live on the other side of what the highly respected Indigenous spokesperson Jacinta Price referred to in The Australian recently as 'the chasm'. She described in detail how the Aboriginal elite, the activists, the academics from the indoctrination centres posing as universities, those with their hands out for grant money and those with the loudest voices who want to change the date of Australia Day all live in the city on their side of the chasm.

When was the last time you heard one of the members of the elite in this space saying anything positive or uplifting about Indigenous achievements? When was the last time you heard one of the activists who identifies as Indigenous talking up the efforts of those in remote locations working to succeed? The elites, the truth deniers—they know there are a multitude of ways to end the misery. They know there's a tonne of money being poured into programs. When they call for an Indigenous voice in the parliament they deliberately don't remind you that there are multiple Indigenous voices already here. In fact, the percentage of those identifying as Indigenous in this place is greater than the percentage in the national population. And why won't we hear stories of achievement, of encouragement, of empowerment, of Indigenous role models and success stories? Why won't you hear them remind their people of Neville Bonner, who came from a little island in the Tweed River to become the first Aboriginal to sit in the Commonwealth parliament and who, as Senator Bonner, went on to be re-elected in four subsequent elections? He was also proud to accept the Australian of the Year award in 1979. He's a stand-out role model for young Indigenous people and their parents, but his story isn't used by the Aboriginal elites because this hero of his people doesn't fit their political agenda.

Mick Dodson, Aboriginal and professor of law, who also accepted the Australian of the Year award, in 2009, summed up the widespread Indigenous success the elites and their mates don't want you to hear about when he told The Sun-Herald in 2010:

It's becoming unexceptional to have successful Indigenous filmmakers, artists, doctors, academics, lawyers, nurses and politicians.

As a nation we love to celebrate the achievements of all Australians. We're that kind of society and we love, as a nation, to cheer the underdogs. We cheer. We celebrate. And so many of our kids try to be like their heroes—the battlers, the ones who give it a real go, as well as the ones who succeed. That's the real Aussie.

And it's not based on the colour of your skin. They want to rewrite history. They have made it their mission in life to reframe Australia, both its history and its present. They spray their venom. They hiss their threats and slurs. They denigrate our great nation and all it stands for. They work hard to indoctrinate our youth with their lies and to divide our country. And their division isn't between black and white; it's between black and everyone else.

Senator Thorpe interjecting—

So many of them seem to have made it their life's work to enjoy their substantial salary—

Senator Thorpe interjecting—

and the profile of their city based positions while they work to ensure Indigenous communities remain trapped in permanent victimhood—

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Madam Acting Deputy President: a senator in this chamber was shouting abuse at a senator while they were on their feet. I would ask you to call that senator to order, please.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind every senator that they should only speak from their place in the chamber. Any disorderly conduct is not appreciated. Senator Thorpe?

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Point of order: I'm finding it quite offensive to hear in my workplace the senator for Queensland speak the language that she is speaking. I find it offensive and divisive, and I ask the senator for Queensland to retract any more attacks on Aboriginal people in this country.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Thorpe, I do understand what you're saying, but what you're raising is a point of debate and not a point of procedure. You could address it when you have an opportunity to speak. Senator Hanson.

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

So many of them seem to have made it their life's work to enjoy the substantial salary and profile of their city based positions while they work to ensure Indigenous communities remain trapped in permanent victimhood, because, without victims to point to, the elites of the city side of the chasm have no relevance. As Henry Ergas said in The Australian recently, the city based mob's aim is to incite, not to inform. Ergas also pointed out:

… the "sorry" culture perpetuates a sense of victimhood that gives European settlement no credit for the enormous gains it has conferred.

The Aboriginal elite are creating and tolerating permanent victimhood for their Indigenous Australian brothers and sisters, and they don't care. They'll let the Indigenous population pay any price to achieve their goals. Their idea of equality is: 'We own everything, and the rest get nothing.' They want 100 per cent of the land. For them the 32 per cent of Australia already under native title isn't enough. This does not include private Indigenous landownership. They want 100 per cent of Australia to be owned by around three per cent of the population, based on the colour of their skin or their ancestry. That's called racism. It's pure and simple racism and it needs to be called out and exposed at every opportunity.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Hanson. Senator Thorpe, is there a point of order?

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, there is a point of order. There are a lot of untruths being said in the senator for Queensland's statement. I understand that it's coming to 5.30, so we don't have time to debate. So as long as I'm sitting here in my workplace hearing lies from the senator for Queensland, who obviously has an issue with black people in this country—

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

Madam Acting Deputy President—

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Aren't I able to feel safe in my workplace?

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Thorpe, please resume your seat. As I said earlier, I completely understand what you're saying, but that is a debating point. So we will move back to Senator Hanson.

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

It's common knowledge that the billions of dollars thrown at Indigenous programs far exceed the funds put into non-Indigenous programs on a per capita basis. Non-Indigenous government spending per capita is $22,000 versus $45,000 for Indigenous Australians. Tens of billions of dollars are spent each year on programs to assist Aboriginal communities both remote and major. From Jacinta Price's policy paper 'Worlds apart', published in January this year by the Centre for Independent Studies, we learned the Productivity Commission estimates that the government spent around $33.4 billion on Indigenous peoples in 2015-16. One stand out of those figures is that around $4.1 billion of that was spent on public order and safety alone. That's $6,300 per person, which is 10 times—yes, 10—the amount spent on the typical Australian. Isn't it a coincidence that, from 1971 to 2016, the year of the last official census, the population of Aboriginal Australians increased by 459 per cent during the rollout of these programs while the general population increased by only 83.5 per cent?

The people of Australia know it's way overdue for those on the Left and the Right to accept that the awful plight of so many Indigenous communities runs across party lines, and the system is being rorted. Indigenous families—any family—should never be political pawns. The hollow prize of hate speech, thrown across this chamber to deflect from the truth, is a badge of honour I and my party wear with pride. One Nation will continue to shine a light on the rorts, the injustice, the inequality and the discrimination— (Time expired)

Debate interrupted.