Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher. Minister, you have explicitly posted on social media and spoken about your support for a treaty, as has the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Prime Minister and most members of your government. Given the confusion created by the Prime Minister, can you confirm that, if the Voice referendum is successful later this year, the Albanese government will then commence the process to negotiate one or more national treaties with Indigenous Australians?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank those opposite for being so interested in my social media account. I never had any idea! I could just picture you all sitting there, having a look, following everyone's social media. Oh! They wanted some good content. They wanted some quality content. Follow us! We're comfortable with that.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat.

Government senators interjecting—

Order on my right! I have a senator on her feet. Senator Liddle.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question was very specific, and it wasn't about being amused about the answer. It was about the question.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, you did refer to social media and a number of other matters.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And all the laughing and joking.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister is entitled to go to any part of your question. You referred to social media.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Order! I will remind the minister of your question, but I will remind people who ask the questions that, if there's a preamble or a range of matters in the body of the question, the minister is entitled to refer to them.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will remember Senator Liddle when I post next on social media, hopeful that she'll enjoy it. The focus for the government is on the Voice. There will be a referendum, and everyone will have an opportunity to vote. Our focus is on ensuring that we're closing the gap, focusing on Indigenous health, education, housing and jobs and making a practical difference. I think there is surely some agreement across this chamber that in a number of areas the current situation, the status quo, is not delivering the outcomes that any single one of us in this chamber would want to see continue for any time longer. That is in areas such as incarceration, children being placed in out-of-home care, babies with low birth weight and children being assessed as not on track developmentally. In all of those areas we are not seeing the outcomes that we want to see, which is why there will be—

An opposition senator interjecting—

It is relevant, because it's about outcomes. The Voice is about outcomes. The Uluru Statement from the Heart is about outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and improving them—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat. Senator Liddle.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question was about an outcome, which was: will a treaty be part of that? We haven't heard that word.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, I remind you that in your question you also went to the Voice, you went to the referendum and you went to social media, all of which the minister is entitled to take into account when she answers. The minister is being relevant.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question I'm asked relates to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and the referendum goes to the Voice, creating constitutional recognition through a voice to this parliament. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, first supplementary?

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, will you rule out Australian taxpayers being required to pay rent or reparations as part of any treaty negotiated by the Albanese government? If not, what is the potential cost of such a treaty? Have you done the modelling?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all see, with eyes wide open, what is going on here in this chamber. We all see. You will have to live with yourselves about your conduct and how you decide to play it—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my left!

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can say, as Minister for Finance, one of the things that worries me greatly is the expenditure that's currently going to deliver outcomes that none of us in this place would want to see continue. We spend billions and billions of dollars every year, year on year, on programs that have not shifted the dial and have not closed the gap. As Minister for Finance, I have a responsibility to taxpayers to ensure that the money being spent is delivering outcomes. That is why we are supporting a Voice through the 'yes' vote, when it comes—because we want to see a practical difference and see those outcomes change. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, second supplementary?

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, in response to a question yesterday, you said the investment in a makarrata commission will support the treaty process. However, the Prime Minister has said this isn't about treaty. Have you again misled the Senate, or is the Prime Minister seeking to mislead the Australian people?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Voice, as I said yesterday, is about making a practical difference. It's about constitutional recognition. It's about consultation and listening to First Nations people, at their request, when they say this is what they would like to see happen, so we can start shifting the dial in all of those areas—in jobs, in housing, in education, in justice. I thought we had unanimous agreement that we wanted to see progress in all these areas. I thought that. We have seen years and years of the parliament working together to make decisions. The Voice is simply—

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Minister, please resume your seat.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Order, Senator Hughes! Order on my right as well, Senator Green! Please continue, Minister.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Voice is about making a practical difference. It's a generous offer about a way forward to change what we're currently doing, which, as everyone in this place would agree, has not been working.