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

On Monday the Closing the gap report will be released. I, like you, want change but expect it won't come. Violence, fuelled by alcohol and the associated chaos, is at the heart of the gap widening. There's also the quality of service delivery of organisations on the front line, but the Albanese government turns a blind eye. Today I checked on the progress of Yadu Health in Ceduna. More than two years since being funded to build a health service, there are just shipping containers, and the build cost has blown out. Need more evidence? Take a look at the number of non-compliant organisations on the ORIC website. That's their governing organisation, their regulator. Today, more than 20 Aboriginal health organisations have overdue reports, and many have been in breach for years.

The Australian Greens and Labor talk about the complexity, but breaking the cycle of violence and maladministration is obvious. Alcohol is the primary driver of violence in Indigenous communities, leading to worse health outcomes. Imagine a child tired from hiding and seeking safety after parents have spent the night drinking. Everyone lives in fear, in a state of fight or flight. A parent is injured, compounding chronic health issues. There's no sleep, no school and no food. The root causes relevant right now must be our focus. I'll give you two examples of how the Albanese government's policies have let the alcohol flow, and with it have come violence and adverse outcomes. They removed the cashless debit card and did nothing to stop the grog bans being lifted in Central Australia, throwing around more taxpayer money to fix a mess of their own making. Labor, you can make an announcement about finding hospitals in the Northern Territory; that's great, but it was your policies that helped fill those hospitals.

To get Australia back on track, the Peter Dutton— (Time expired)