BY AUTHORITY OF THE SENATE

Thursday, 20 March 2014 THE SENATE 57

CHAMBER

Senator O'SULLIVAN (Queensland) (14:37): My

question is to the Minister for Indigenous Affairs,

Senator Scullion. Can the minister outline to the Senate

how this government is making a difference in closing

the gap between Indigenous and other Australians?

Senator SCULLION (Northern Territory—Minister

for Indigenous Affairs and Leader of The Nationals in

the Senate) (14:37): Can I congratulate the senator—

Opposition senators interjecting—

The PRESIDENT: Order! On my left! Senator

Scullion, you are entitled to be heard in silence.

Senator SCULLION: I thank the senator for the

question and congratulate him on his first speech and

on his first question. This is a very important question,

on National Close the Gap Day. Today is a day of reflection. It involves around 165,000 people attending around 1,200 events around the country. I congratulate all of them and the National Close the Gap Committee.

Despite billions of dollars being spent on a plethora of programs there have been few lasting outcomes.

the Closing the Gap strategy commenced. National

Close the Gap Day is part of a non-government Close

the Gap campaign. A key focus is on health, an

area my excellent colleague Senator Nash is working

hard on. We all know that you cannot have a good

health outcome for Aboriginal and Islander Australians

without looking at the challenges that they face

holistically. The government is making 'Children go to

school' the government's No. 1 priority in Indigenous

affairs.

The Prime Minister has announced a new COAG

target. Under the Remote School Attendance Strategy

the government is providing $28.4 million for 400

Aboriginal school attendance officers, covering 40

communities. There are already over 600 more children

attending school compared to last year. I acknowledge

that it is early days but, in one school term, we have

started to narrow that gap.

Senator O'SULLIVAN (Queensland) (14:39): Mr

President, I have a supplementary question for the

minister. Can the minister inform the Senate of the

starting point this government faces in terms of the

previous government's performance on closing the gap

for Indigenous Australians?

Senator SCULLION (Northern Territory—Minister

for Indigenous Affairs and Leader of The Nationals in

the Senate) (14:39): Under this government the story of

failure is starting to turn around, because we are willing

to roll up our sleeves, get into the communities, talk to

the communities and ensure that we are reflecting their

wishes. This is just a start. The record of the previous

government speaks for itself. A read of the 14 Closing

the Gap targets shows that only two out of the eight

targets set in 2008 are on track to be met. There has

been no progress on reading, writing and numeracy.

And I can tell you that, in remote areas, it is even worse.

I along with my colleagues will not stop until there is

real momentum for change in these areas.

Senator O'SULLIVAN (Queensland) (14:40): Mr

President, I have a further supplementary question for

the minister. Can the minister apprise the Senate of

any other Closing the Gap targets which were not met

by the previous government and how the coalition

government intends to address them?

Senator SCULLION (Northern Territory—Minister

for Indigenous Affairs and Leader of The Nationals

in the Senate) (14:40): Dismally, there has been

no progress made under the employment gap target

—a very, very important target. That is why the

government commissioned a review of Indigenous

training and employment programs, led by Andrew

Forrest, one of the captains of industry. The review was

commissioned in recognition by this government of the

fact that you cannot have endless training for training's

sake if there are no real jobs at the end. We provide

an expectation for our first Australians that if they start

training and work hard at the training, there will be a

job at the end for them. The last six years in that regard

have been an appalling disappointment. The answer is

real jobs that provide real skills that give Aboriginal

and Islander people real jobs in this economy.