Doorstop interview: Indigenous Voice to Parliament

LINDA BURNEY, SHADOW MINISTER FOR HUMAN SERVICES, MEMBER FOR BARTON: This week in Parliament we've seen Aboriginal issues dominate. There has been the Closing the Gap report where we saw again the shocking disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal people right across this country.

 

We also have of course the ten year anniversary of the Apology. Labor has been very decisive in relation to a call for a voice from Uluru. The Prime Minister remarkably has refused two days in a row in Question Time to commit him and his government to the outcomes of the Uluru Statement and that was a call for a Voice to advise the Parliament on issues as they pertain to First Nations People.

 

The Prime Minister's refusal and a threat to make this an election issue is nothing short of scaremongering. He has described a Voice to the Parliament as a third chamber. Not true. He has also said that this puts the rights of Aboriginal people above the rest of Australians. I think the rest of this country would be shocked if they truly understood the disadvantage of Aboriginal people.

 

Today, in the news we heard the shocking statistics in New South Wales alone of the amount of Aboriginal children being removed into statutory care. It has doubled since the Apology. It is a completely untenable situation.

 

The fact that the Prime Minister is doubling down and becoming harder and harder in his response to establishing a Voice to the Parliament is just remarkable to me. There is no time that I can think of in my long career in politics where we have seen starkly the disadvantaged and the increased incarceration and the amount of children being put into care.

 

The fact that the Prime Minister has threatened to make this an election issue I think is reprehensible. Labor has been incredibly pragmatic. If there is not going to be a referendum about establishing a Voice to the Parliament, we will legislate. As Bill Shorten said we will work with you but we will not wait with you.

 

This is threatening the bipartisan of Aboriginal affairs that has been established over two decades now. We want to work with the Government. But if the Government is not prepared to work with Labor, we will not wait for the Government.

 

Aboriginal people across this country have said loud and clear there needs to be a body that is advising, not vetoing what the Government is doing in relation to the Indigenous space.

 

I know that many people just see this as statistics, but the statistics are real children, real people that are dying to early, that are not getting the outcomes that the rest of the country is experiencing. And for the Prime Minister to say no, we'll make this an election issue and propagating a scaremongering campaign about a Voice to the Parliament is completely unacceptable to my party.