Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In relation to this attendance, the government acknowledges Senator Thorpe for moving this order for the production of documents. We recognise her strong interest in the matter; however, providing these documents would disclose and pre-empt cabinet deliberations on a matter of national importance.

The process of reforming our environmental laws is ongoing. We are committed to developing a First Nations engagement standard, the purpose of which is to ensure First Nations views are considered early in all projects and planning decisions under our environmental law. This will ensure that traditional owner groups and organisations have an early opportunity to protect their cultural heritage and enable their traditional knowledge to be factored into project design. I table the response from the Minister for the Environment and Water.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I share Senator Thorpe's concerns around what is actually happening, or, more to the point, what is not happening here. We were promised at the last election by this government that they would have this comprehensive First Nations cultural heritage plan, that they'd get cracking on this—that they'd actually do the work that needed to be needed to be done to give effect to this plan.

Here we are nearly two years on—I think we're just one week short of two years since the last election—and they've done nothing. Diddly squat. We have a government here trying to explain away the lack of action. We've got to remember the backdrop against which this substandard response has been given. It's a backdrop of nil activity in the environment portfolio. We were also promised, at that same point in time, that we would have a full and comprehensive response to the Samuel review of our national environmental approval laws—that by the end of 2023 we'd have laws in this parliament. We still don't. Another six months have passed—no laws. It sounds like we won't be having those laws in parliament this term either. A broken promise—but, hey, let's not worry about it.

I do want to go to some of the comments that were made by Minister Plibersek in relation to the importance of getting these First Nations cultural heritage laws in place, and of course the promises that were made about acting on the need for policy reform. They said:

An Albanese Labor government will work with the First Nations Heritage Alliance and other stakeholders to reform our national heritage protection framework and prevent such destruction occurring in the future—

referring to the Juukan Gorge disaster—

This includes through new stand-alone First Nations heritage protection legislation.

This was part of their First Nations Peoples Plan. Referring to that, and in relation to introducing standalone federal Indigenous cultural heritage protection legislation, Minister Plibersek said this: 'There's never been a better moment to take this step.' That was on 24 November 2022—quite some time ago now. 'Never been a better moment' than 24 November 2022. We're now in 2024, and the moment has well and truly passed. The Nature Positive Plan document which was tabled a couple of weeks later, in December 2022, states:

A National Environmental Standard for First Nations engagement and participation in decision-making will be developed as a priority.

It's such a priority that nearly two years can pass and we have nothing. Senator Thorpe is rightly angered by this, and I support her in that. It goes on:

This will ensure that First Nations interests and cultural heritage are identified early and can be protected as projects are designed.

I emphasise the word 'early'. That's not happening. It says, 'These will ensure that cultural heritage is identified and protected early,' providing certainty to traditional owners. Well, there is no certainty because there are no standards. No work has been done.

In estimates in October last year I was wondering what was going on, giving the government the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they were getting some work done. I asked a senior official from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water where things were at. I said, 'Is there a chance that what we are talking about here, the standards that were so critically important to have out the door and in place, will be done before the next election?' The official, a deputy secretary in the department, said, 'It's unclear.' Not even those who are notionally doing this work on this critically important piece of policy could tell us when work would be done. It won't be done before the election, in much the same way that the national environmental laws won't before the election.

I go to this ridiculous claim of public interest immunity, the suggestion in the letter that has been provided by the minister that this would pre-empt cabinet deliberations—that the documents relating to this order, the order that Senator Thorpe sought, would both disclose and pre-empt deliberations of cabinet. If those who make these claims would read Odgers', they would understand that this claim does not stack up, which is why we reject it. To claim loosely that cabinet documents are immune from production in the courts or at least orders by this place is not supported. Only documents which record or reveal the deliberations of cabinet are immune. The documents we're talking about here don't fit into that category. That's supported by case law, the case of the Commonwealth and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. The government hasn't got a leg to stand on here. They haven't done any work. It's an embarrassment. I applaud Senator Thorpe for moving this motion.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Twelve months ago, this government was advocating a voice to parliament for Indigenous Australians. Of course they talk a big talk in terms of their attempt, their suggestion, that they would act with transparency, accountability—all of these big words that they like to throw around, particularly when it comes to engaging with Indigenous Australians and planning for the betterment of the lives of Indigenous Australians. However, they have a terrible record. We know that this government was funding the EDO, which was found by the Federal Court to have been exploiting traditional owners. However, despite this, they continued to think that clearly this sort of conduct, this sort of behaviour, is perfectly acceptable and would continue to fund the EDO.

Justice Charlesworth broadly criticised Dr O'Leary for having lied to the Tiwi Island witnesses, because he wanted his cultural-mapping exercise to be used in a way that would, of course, stop the pipeline. The problem with this Albanese government is that they are not actually interested in any level of transparency, accountability or consultation with Indigenous Australians on matters that relate to Indigenous Australians. We've heard all kinds of rhetoric around this. We have heard the Prime Minister himself say, in his passionate speech about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, that once you start to listen to Indigenous Australians then that is when we will get the results that are needed. Well, they've clearly demonstrated that they're not actually interested or prepared to listen and properly consult or be accountable for lack of consultation with Indigenous Australians right across the issues that concern us.

In their review of the EDO's conduct, this government didn't even know if traditional owners could make a submission to their review. It would be funny if it weren't so insulting and so ridiculous. They wax lyrical about their responsibilities, which, again, goes back to that issue of transparency. The reality that we know and that we've come to learn over and over again is that this simply is not true.

I think it's time for the minister to show what responsibility looks like and what transparency looks like and to fess up about how serious they are about engaging Indigenous Australians. As the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, I'm acutely aware of their lack of responsibility in this space from moment to moment, from the action on the ground in my own home community of Alice Springs, and aware of those that they failed to be honest with about conversations that they're having with regard to issues like the rollout of the $250 million that's supposedly to help in Central Australia.

You've got a prime minister who flies in and flies out for photo opportunities in Indigenous communities such as the Binjari community to have the lovely backdrop of the community and of the housing to announce a new housing policy, while the Binjari Community Aboriginal Corporation stands there, waiting for their moment to have a conversation with the Prime Minister, who actually showed up in their community, only to be shoved to the side once the conference is done and dusted. Then, of course, the Prime Minister jumps in the car and runs away. Not good enough. More transparency is what needs to occur. (Time expired)

Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all know that this Prime Minister is all hat and no cattle. That was on display at beef week just recently. We know he's all talk and no action. He's all promise with no follow-through. I just want to share with you some quotes that the now Prime Minister was wont to say, almost on repetition. 'Transparency is always a good idea,' he told ABC Drive. On Sunrise in July 2022, he said:

Well, what we need is transparency.

…   …   …

And I want politics to be cleaned up. That's why my Government will establish an anti-corruption commission. And that's why we will have strict adherence to the code of conduct.

Code of conduct? I mean, we know that doesn't really apply, because when we last had estimates Minister Ayres was in so many breaches of it. It was so blatant, yet not even an eyebrow was raised by those opposite.

The Albanese Government is committed to integrity, honesty and accountability and Ministers in my Government (including Assistant Ministers) will observe standards of probity, governance and behaviour worthy of the Australian people.

That's part of the code of conduct. Behaviour worthy of the Australian people? I think today showed that, no, they're not—certainly not their backbench, when they call for genocide and the destruction of Israel. But there we are. Mr Albanese tweeted: 'We do need to restore faith in our political system. We need to make sure that there's transparency, accountability and integrity.' This is a government that is incapable of any of these things, and that's why we're here.

To Senator Price's point, last year $456 million was spent on the Voice to Parliament—the Voice to Parliament that was going to be so important because we cared so much about Indigenous Australians. We were so wanting to make sure that Indigenous Australians had a direct voice into government, affecting decisions and having an impact on decisions that were going to have significance in their lives, yet here we are again. That was just part of an ideology. It was part of something Mr Albanese thought was a good idea. Again, once it failed, and spectacularly so—another great waste of money. To be fair, though, $456 million on the Voice now seems just like a little flurry, a bit of a flush, when you compare it to the billion dollars they're going to spend on the rebranding of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. These guys have just got absolutely no clue. Fiscal responsibility be damned.

We know that there is no accountability, no transparency and no honesty when it comes to the Australian people. Senator Thorpe has just made a request for some documents. She just wants to know what consultations happened, who's been spoken to and what the impacts are going to be, but we get arrogance and hubris from this government. We see it every Monday when we come back to parliament, on NDIS Monday, when we ask for documents that underpin the modelling of the NDIS and the assumptions that are made there. This is a program that's now going to cost more than Medicare, but these guys are unable to provide any modelling to show how they're going to dramatically impact the budget changes in that area, so why would they tell anyone what they're going to do around the national Indigenous heritage sites?

I'm in New South Wales, but I used to live in Perth, so I do pay a little bit of attention to what's happening over in WA and WA politics. They had an absolute disaster over in Western Australia because the state Labor government brought in legislation that meant that, in effect, if you wanted to trim the hydrangeas or dig a little hole to put a new tree in, you had to pay to get an Indigenous heritage assessment. It took away the limits of what you could do on your land. It was increasing costs and it was completely disastrous, and it had to be revoked.

For some reason, the federal Labor government is determined to push on with these sorts of legislative programs. Because they're so arrogant, because they are so carried away by their own importance and significance, and their belief in their own belief, they're not even going to tell you about it before the next election. They assume they'll be re-elected and they can just do it without your imprimatur, without the Australian people knowing what they're even trying to push through. Shame on you all.

Question agreed to.