Mr EWEN JONES (12:43 PM) —Wilfred Baira, Immigration officer; Ted Harry, Immigration Officer; Valorie Faub; Flora Enosa and her daughter Ethena. Rest in peace

I rise to support the Member for Leichhardt’s motion seeking government support for the victims of the loss of the Malu Sara. I cannot remove the politics from this, because I believe the government has a role here. It must act, on behalf of the government in charge at the time and the government now. I shudder to think what would have happened if this accident had occurred in Sydney Harbour or on Port Phillip Bay, and what the level of compensation and the amount of transparency would have been then. I cannot help but feel that those of us who live northern Australia are quite often subject to another set of rules.

The Malu Sara set out on a journey from Saibai Island to Badu Island on 14 October 2005. It never made it. These people were not on a fishing trip in a beat-up tinnie; they were on patrol for the department of immigration. They did not have useless or failed safety equipment. The government did not give them any of the latest safety equipment. They also sent them out in atrocious conditions. I do not propose to take shots at the government officials who sent these people out with inferior equipment saying that they were two generations behind and would not be able to use more modern equipment. The coroner has done his job and I just pray that we never have to speak about these sorts of totally avoidable tragedies ever again.

If you have spent any time in the Torres Strait you would know that these people are instinctive and natural sailors, but this is a hostile environment and one where everyone should take the greatest of care. It may not look like it when you are standing on the dock at Thursday Island watching these guys going past in their big tinnies with huge outboards on the back doing a million miles an hour, seemingly without a care in the world, but the rips and tides are huge in the strait and trouble is never very far away for the unwary.

The coroner has dealt a fine of $242,000 to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, and recommended disciplinary measures to the individuals concerned. But we must say to all the people of Australia that they are equal and they are valued. We must say to all the people of Australia that if the government does something wrong it must be prepared to assist with the recovery. I propose that we do the right thing by these people. What we have here is a breach of faith by all governments and there is a lack of respect for those who have fallen. What we have to do is fix it.

To fine a government department $242,000 is one thing—and I recognise that that is the maximum penalty available—but to have the money go back to the government is a complete waste of time. They may as well not do the transaction at all, for all it will achieve. The member for Leichhardt rightly suggests that the money be given to the families of the deceased in the form of a trust for the children of the deceased. They are being cared for by grandparents and their community. Let no-one here suggest that money can take the place of a loving parent, but they are deserving of support. They will have needs for education and social inclusion, which will always cost money. We must do what we can to ease the burden of those who are left to take the place of a parent lost due to government error.

The $242,000 would be a good start. It will do them a damn sight more good than it will by going back into consolidated revenue. Governments must also be prepared to assist in the future should that need arise. We must also warn others that all governments may not always have their best interests at heart. If the government tried to launch this boat as it was on the Swan River, in Sydney Harbour or in Port Phillip Bay they would have been laughed off the dock. It simply would not have happened. But in the Torres Strait the department deemed it okay to send them out into one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world with inadequate equipment and in atrocious conditions.

The government has named two rooms in Parliament House in their honour. As prestigious as that may be, it will have absolutely no impact on those in the Torres Strait. The member for Leichhardt has rightly suggested twin memorials in appropriate places on Badu and Thursday Islands. If you stand on tiptoes on the Russian fort at Thursday Island you can just see the mainland. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but you are as close as close can be to Papua New Guinea.

The immigration officials and the guys operating these cruises are making sure that people are doing the right thing, but the traffic between Papua New Guinea and Torres Strait is huge. There are five beds in the Thursday Island hospital that are continually filled by those from Papua New Guinea with drug-resistant tuberculosis, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis and the like. It is a very dangerous place and they are very mobile, so the role these people play is vital.

There are island communities in the electorate of Herbert. The people on Magnetic and Palm Islands also extend their sympathies and condolences to the five deceased and their families. I need to speak out on this because Palm Island is populated by our first people. A tragedy like this could happen nearer to Townsville. I swore to all the people I represent in the seat of Herbert that no-one will be left behind.

I firmly believe that this government is all talk and no action when it comes to our first Australians. You only have to look at Palm Island to see the level of housing being developed and to see the absolute waste and contempt in which the government holds these people. We are building houses on Palm Island which are two feet below the line of the sewerage. I cannot say in this House what you can push uphill, but it is very difficult.

We recently saw the government table the Closing the gap Prime Minister’s report 2010. I challenge the government’s commitment to this when you look at the treatment of these poor souls sent to their deaths and detention on Palm Island. If the government is serious about closing the gap and being upfront and honest with our first Australians, they have to act swiftly. To delay is to say that they are indeed second-class citizens and do not deserve to be treated as equals. I now challenge the government and ministers Bowen and Macklin to attend these islands and tell the people that they would not have received better equipment in other parts of Australia. I challenge the government and ministers Bowen and Macklin to front these people and tell them that a room in Parliament House is a huge honour and they should be happy with that. I challenge the government and ministers Bowen and Macklin to front these people and be fair dinkum.

I do not excuse the Howard government for their role here, but I want this fixed, and we, this parliament and this government are the ones who can and should facilitate this. It is time to act and time to be upfront. You cannot just do it in the Murray-Darling Basin, in places in Sydney or in the inner suburbs of Melbourne; we have to do it in northern Australia. I commend the member’s motion to this House.