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

My question is for the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Minister McCarthy. Yesterday Prime Minister Albanese publicly backed Victoria's harsher bail laws, saying he strongly supports them. Do you agree with your Prime Minister that jailing more people on remand, including children as young as 10, is a good thing? It's a yes-or-no question.

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Thorpe, for the question. Our government has worked incredibly hard to ensure the justice reinvestment package across the country—in 27 sites, indeed—to try to reduce the high rates of incarceration in this country, and I know that the Prime Minister is incredibly supportive of making sure we do that.

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

Senator Thorpe, first supplementary?

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

You have said your government wants remand numbers reduced. The Prime Minister openly contradicted you, so what is Labor's position—more or fewer kids locked up on bail?

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have answered this question from Senator Thorpe before. I have spoken with Indigenous affairs ministers across the country and joined council with the Coalition of Peaks. We do want to see the reduction in remand across the country and we are certainly working towards that.

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

Senator Thorpe, second supplementary?

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

What concrete action—not just your letters, your meetings and your phone calls with your mates—will your government take on bail?

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Thorpe, for your letters. They are very interesting, and I will certainly be getting back to you on your letters. But the letters I have written to people across the country are certainly making an impact, and I thank those jurisdictions for working with me. We have a way to go, and I will continue to do that going forward.