Mr LAURIE FERGUSON (10:09 PM) —I join with the member for Warringah (Mr Abbott) in expressing some concern about revelations over the weekend in regard to the internal operations of One Nation. As the member for Warringah has quite clearly pointed out to this House, there are all the indications of a very undemocratic structure within that organisation. It appears that essentially we are talking about a company with ownership by three political operators—one of whom is elected to this House. I was also concerned about aspects of the articles over the weekend which indicate that internally members in different sections of the organisation are restricted in their contact with other elements within the party.

On a local front, I was interested to note that the candidate standing against me in the seat of Reid was selected before a meeting occurred within that electorate. He was elected at a meeting of people in another electorate. So there are very strong questions about the structure of this organisation. I think the Australian people would be increasingly concerned as to where taxpayer finance is going in regard to electoral funding. As the member pointed out, if one looks at the amount of money they have obtained on the public record, one will see that there seems to be a great discrepancy between their ability to fund their operations and what they reveal in regard to finance.

What we have here is a structure which has come up in the context of very grave concern by the Australian electorate about politicians and whether they are listening to them, about long-term employment prospects, et cetera, ad nauseam. But the conduit for that concern, the conduit for that worry about the future of this country, is very questionable.

I want to turn to one of the groups that the member for Oxley (Ms Hanson) particularly concentrates upon—the Aboriginal community in this country. I was provoked today in regard to receiving one of those vote-a-grams which talked about equity in this country. Basically, that line of argument in regard to Aboriginal people stems from the comments made by the member for Oxley in her maiden speech in this House.

It is worth putting on the record again—and I know that the member for Charlton (Mr Robert Brown) has been a pacemaker on this—some of the facts about Aboriginality in this country. Only 45 per cent of Aboriginal men reach 65 years of age compared with 80 per cent of the rest of this country's population. Only 54 per cent of their women reach 65 years of age compared with 90 per cent of non-Aboriginals. For Aboriginal children, the incidence of pneumonia is 80 times higher than for any other Australian. Thirty-four per cent of Aboriginal communities have water supply levels below accepted national guidelines. Forty-five per cent have insufficient water supply to meet their needs over the next five years.

Forty-five of the 99 deaths in custody investigated by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody were people taken from their parents as children. People try to say that it was not of any relevance, that it was not of any moment that people were taken from their parents, yet we are seeing a clear correlation between deaths in custody and the taking of those people. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody completed its final report in 1991. It investigated 99 cases of deaths in custody. Since then there have been another 100. Young Aborigines are held in juvenile detention centres at a rate almost 50 times higher than other Australians.

It is about time the Australian electorate realised that for all our ingrained concerns about race issues in this country, these factors—their health, their incarceration, their mortality, et cetera—are not because they are Aboriginal, are not because of their blood, are not because of their genetics. This is simply a fact that we see around the world. If I go to Brazil and I have a look at the fate of the Amazonian Indians, I will find the same situation—totally unrelated to the Australian Aboriginals. They are marginalised people who have had their country seized and essentially characterised by these unfortunate aspects of life expectancy.

In Colombia, we see oil companies essentially raping the country at the moment. There have been articles about them. If we go to Japan, the Ainu will have the same characteristics because of the way in which they are marginalised in their society. If the member for Oxley and those around her talk about equity for people in this country, it is about time they recognised the clear deprivation of Aboriginal people in this country.