address to parliament - MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS - National Apology to the Stolen Generations: 16th Anniversary

Eight million dollars—it's not a lot of money, particularly when you consider the amount of money spent on last year's referendum, which was about $450 million. Eight million dollars is not a lot of money when you consider the amount of money that Treasury handles every year to run this nation. Compared to the sort of money that goes through the infrastructure investment pipeline, $8 million is but loose change. But $8 million is what Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria needs for a swimming pool—an aquatic centre.

I visited that island as Acting Prime Minister, just before I lost the role as Deputy Prime Minister—it was the last official duty that I did. I gave those people a commitment to get them a swimming pool. As long as I have breath in me, and as long as they don't have a swimming pool, I will fight for them. It's a long way from Riverina, the landlocked electorate in the south-west of New South Wales that I represent. But you have to have purpose if you come to this place. You have to have vision and drive. And you have to do what's right. Whilst all politics is local, this is a cause celebre for me because the mayor there, Kyle Yanner, is a beaut bloke. I've met a lot of mayors in my time; he's one of the best. He has a young family, and they've just added a newborn baby boy. Congratulations to his family. He leads that community, which just doesn't have what we have on the mainland.

When you look at some of the statistics, they are really alarming. Mornington Island is home to around 1,200 people, 86 per cent of whom identify as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. They have up to 25 per cent unemployment. It's a very young community. There is high youth unemployment. The unemployment rate for Queensland is around 7½ per cent, which is all too high, but, when you consider that 40 per cent of families with children under the age of 15 are jobless, and you compare that to the state rate—it's in the seat of Kennedy—it is just alarming.

The total median family yearly income is less than half the Queensland average. Their disadvantage is so prevalent that 100 per cent of residents are in the most disadvantaged category under the statistician's office Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage: 100 per cent—every one of them.

The death rate for Mornington Shire was some 40 per cent higher than for Queensland in 2019. The state's Chief Health Officer's report of 2018 stated there was a 21-year difference in the median age of death between Indigenous Queensland and non-Indigenous Queensland—59 years compared to 80 years in the three-year period 2013 to 2015. This was similar for males and females.

Mornington Island doesn't ask for much. Kyle Yanner doesn't expect much. I have been to see the infrastructure minister, the member for Ballarat, on a number of occasions. I know she's a person of goodwill; I will say that. I think she was a bit surprised when I came to see her for the very first meeting. Being a former infrastructure minister—for three-and-a-third years—and here I was, cap-in-hand, for the very first meeting; she probably thought I was coming in to talk about my local area. My local area needs things too—I get that—but these people need it more. These people need it—an aquatic centre—more than anywhere else in Australia. It is very hot in any month, let alone the hottest months, on Mornington Island. I implore, I beg, I ask the government: please look beyond some of the big things that you consider are important or a priority, and fund this aquatic centre. I can't state enough how important it is—not just because I promised them that I would deliver it, but because they have gone without for so long. In July 2021, the month after I visited—when I asked for a report it was June; it was in June that I lost the job as Deputy Prime Minister and infrastructure minister—a report said that the cost of the swimming pool would be $6½ million. Obviously, with contingencies and increased construction costs, especially in remote communities, they estimate that now it's $7.9 million or a little bit over. It's not a lot of money in the scheme of things; it truly isn't. And that community absolutely deserves it.

It's the 16th anniversary for the stolen generations report, the sorry day and the national apology that Prime Minister Rudd gave back in 2008. There are some stark things within that.

We haven't done well enough as a nation. We didn't do well enough as a coalition government. Labor is falling short now. And we do need to do better; that is the case.

I do believe, earnestly and honestly, that we did some very good things in the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison years. We made a difference, and that's to be commended.

The Albanese government obviously spent a lot of time and effort last year with the referendum. The results in Riverina were very emphatic: 75.08 per cent said no, 24.92 per cent said yes. A hundred out of a hundred booths voted no. The people spoke. That is democracy.

But we have to tackle disadvantage together. I know, and I was very proud, that we did some good work with the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre, and through employment opportunities with Inland Rail, particularly in the first couple of stages that I oversaw. I know that, on Snowy Hydro 2.0, there were a number of Aboriginal people for whom it was their first ever job, and they had a function at the Wagga Wagga beach, where they expressed their delight at being given the training and the opportunity to work on that exciting project. But, now that the referendum has been done and dusted—and I appreciate that, as the member for Jagajaga said, there are people who are hurting; I understand that—it's time to tackle disadvantage together, and to say: 'Yes, we had the national vote. The nation spoke. But what should we, what can we and what must we do now, going forward, to help those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who need it most, through jobs?'

As the member for Adelaide said—and he shook his head as he said it—he couldn't believe that there are communities where's not fresh drinking water. I agree with him. I've seen, in Africa, how people have eye disease because they don't have fresh, clean water to just wash their faces with. We can't have that in Australia. We're better than that. We must provide those remote communities with the services that they need, they want, they expect and they deserve. They are Australians. They are the First Australians.

Across the Riverina, whilst we have done much, I commend the work done by Hewitt Whyman, Stan Grant Sr and so many others to break the cycle of disadvantage. I acknowledge that I do come from Wiradjuri country. I acknowledge that we're meeting here on Ngunnawal and Ngambri territory. It is time to tackle the disadvantage together. The speeches given by Prime Minister Albanese and opposition leader Dutton the other day were very good. But we need more than words. We need action. We need particular action in those remote communities. The cashless welfare debit card needs to be reinstated, and very soon, to end the cycle of domestic violence and alcohol and other abuses that Aboriginal communities face all too much.