Senator HERRON (Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs) (4:14 PM) —The motion reads:

Madam Acting President, I know the motion will be passed, because Senator Lees and the Democrats have indicated their position, the Labor Party has moved it and Senator Brown is supporting it, so it is a bit pointless listening to the diatribe which will be forthcoming. Paradoxically, it gives me the opportunity to respond to the motion, and I am happy to do so.

I reject absolutely the terms of the motion. I can point to very significant achievements in this portfolio over the last four years. I was very gratified when the Prime Minister asked me to take on this most challenging portfolio. There is no doubt that it is a difficult one, but I have found the experience very rewarding. I have provided decisive and effective leadership that has set a new direction in indigenous affairs—a direction that is taking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people away from crippling dependence on welfare to economic self-sufficiency and self-empowerment. I have been doing this consistently. In my first speech as minister, I set out the policy direction in my Lyons Forum speech. On that occasion, I said:

I do not believe in creating policy in a vacuum. I have been to hundreds of indigenous communities all over Australia, and I have listened to what it is that indigenous people want for themselves and for their children. And what they want, this government is delivering. They want decent housing, good education, meaningful work, adequate health facilities and a measure of control over their lives. They do not want handouts, and they do not want to be dependent on welfare.

In 1998 I issued the discussion paper `Removing the welfare shackles'. This paper looked at ways that indigenous business and investment programs could be used to generate further investment and greater wealth distribution to indigenous communities. I am also looking at how indigenous people can have more influence over their day-to-day lives. I want to see substantial devolution of decision making power away from central offices and out to the regions, and this is happening. This in no way diminishes the role of ATSIC, but makes it an even more effective advocate for indigenous people. I am pleased to confirm that I have a positive working relationship with the newly elected chair of ATSIC, and I look forward to a continuing productive partnership.

Last year I released, jointly with ATSIC, a discussion paper on regional autonomy which foreshadowed a process of consultation and the development of models relevant to regional and local needs. This approach has been endorsed by the ATSIC board. Currently a restructure is under way which will provide much more influence at the local level. This will result in more responsive and effective program delivery. This approach will be supported by the work that the Commonwealth Grants Commission is undertaking on a relative needs basis in indigenous communities. It is consistent with my determination that resources go to areas of greatest need—where they will make the most significant and sustained differences. In terms of making a real difference to indigenous people's lives, I have worked closely with ministerial colleagues who have responsibility for indigenous specific programs.

The Commonwealth government since 1996 have demonstrated a steadfast and practical commitment to improving the lives and prospects of indigenous Australians. We are fully aware that Australians of indigenous background as a whole represent the most disadvantaged group in our society, and we have been addressing the elements of that disadvantage. The government's approach has been to tackle the fundamentals of disadvantage—the key priorities of health, education, employment and housing—and to encourage the active participation of indigenous Australians, in partnership with us, in building a better future for themselves. Not only do indigenous Australians have access to all mainstream Commonwealth government programs and services—as is their right—but the government have in addition committed the highest amount of funding on record, amounting in the current financial year to $2.2 billion, to targeted indigenous specific programs.

It is important to understand that such programs, which are aimed at the root causes of disadvantage, cannot be expected to produce instant improvements. The government's critics fail to recognise the complexity of the circumstances and needs of indigenous Australians, who, like all Australians, want a decent quality of life, reasonable access to government services, a fair go and support to build a better future for themselves and their children as fully participating members of our society. The Labor Party had 13 years of lost opportunity to make an impact, but it fundamentally failed to make any significant improvements. I am saddened that the Democrats are supporting Labor in this motion, because they obviously know more than the Labor Party on this. The Democrats were around when the Labor Party was in power, and it did nothing to support what I am proposing now.

I am pleased to be able to report that, in those fundamental areas which really make a difference to people, progress is being made. Despite the historically high unemployment rate for indigenous people, there have been signs of improvement in recent years. For example, the proportion of indigenous Australians employed in professional occupations has increased from 14 per cent in 1986 to 22 per cent in 1996; the number of indigenous students in vocational education and training has increased from 15,000 in 1990 to 45,000 in 1998, and the number enrolled in higher education tripled between 1988 and 1998.

The government is pursuing three broad strategies to improve employment prospects and outcomes for indigenous people: it is increasing the job skills and employment opportunities of indigenous Australians through a special indigenous employment policy announced in the last budget; it is promoting employment and business opportunities in remote area, for example tourism and mining; and it is encouraging the unemployed to undertake community work in return for income support through Community Development Employment Projects and for facilitating their move to mainstream employment. The new indigenous employment policy, worth about $115 million per year, incorporates three major elements: firstly, a new indigenous employment program of $50 million per year that includes flexible wage assistance for employers who provide full-time employment to disadvantaged indigenous job seekers and support for new apprenticeships and cadetships; secondly, an indigenous small business fund with funding of $11 million over three years to undertake programs in skills development, mentoring, networking and advisory services; and, thirdly, additional measures and funding to improve indigenous job-seekers' access to Job Network Services.

In relation to housing, there is evidence that, notwithstanding a 140 per cent increase in the recorded Aboriginal population since the 1976 census, there have been improvements in housing conditions. In the early 1970s, up to 20 per cent of indigenous families lived in improvised dwellings—that number is now less than three per cent. The 12,000 new housing units provided over the last decade is equivalent to 15 per cent of total indigenous dwellings—this is a significant outcome. The proportion of indigenous families who own or who are purchasing their own homes has increased from 24 per cent in 1976 to 33 per cent today—indigenous housing now accounts for 20 per cent of total Commonwealth spending on public and community housing.

The Community Housing Infrastructure Program is the government's largest indigenous specific housing program. ATSIC manages this program, with funding for 1999-2000 reaching $261 million. In 1997-98 over 600 housing units were purchased or constructed, over 1,100 were renovated and a number of infrastructure projects, including sewerage, water, power and roads, were funded. CHIP includes the very successful Army-ATSIC-Health community assistance construction initiative, introduced by this government in 1996-97, with funding of $40 million over four years. So far, seven projects, spanning Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland, have been completed and the Army has provided new housing, upgrades of water services and reticulation systems, waste management and sewerage systems and transport infrastructure upgrades to some of our most needy communities in rural and remote Australia. Another major Commonwealth programs is the Aboriginal rental housing program which is a tied component of the Commonwealth-state housing agreements. This program has funding of $91 million annually, and in 1997-98 an estimated 500 houses were acquired with these funds. Around 60 per cent of the ARHP funded housing is managed by community organisations. In addition, the Commonwealth provides concessional home loan support through ATSIC—about $40 million per year—and up to 400 loans are provided annually, and short-term accommodation for homeless indigenous people through the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program and through Aboriginal Hostels Ltd. The Torres Strait Regional Authority also has housing and infrastructure programs, totalling about $12 million in 1998-99.

I turn now to education. There is evidence of significant improvements in education for indigenous Australians over the past decade. The proportion of indigenous students who stay on at school through to final year has almost quadrupled in the last 20 years—from 8.6 per cent in 1976 to over 32 per cent in 1998. The proportion of indigenous people with post secondary school qualifications has increased from six per cent in 1976 to 13.6 per cent in 1996. The number of indigenous higher education students has gone from around 100 in the 1970s to over 8,000 today. The importance the government places on ensuring indigenous children get as good an education as possible can be seen in the government's National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy which was launched by the Prime Minister on 29 March this year. It will do this through working with parents and communities, enhancing performance and outcomes monitoring, addressing poor hearing and other health issues, lifting school attendance rates, training teachers and using flexible teaching methods. The strategy is an example of practical reconciliation amongst all Australians. The strategy is supported by a number of prominent indigenous identities, including Evelyn Scott, singer Jimmy Little, and footballers, Nicky Winmar, Byron Pickett, Cliff Lyons and Nathan Blacklock.

The strategy is consistent with Australia's top level education policy agreement, the 1999 National Goals for Schooling in Australia in the Twenty-First Century. This agreement has committed all ministers of education to the achievement of educational equality for indigenous Australians as an urgent national priority. The commitment of federal, state and territory governments to addressing disadvantage in indigenous education is also supported by the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education policy. The goals of the policy are the improvement of indigenous people in decision making, equality of access to education, equity in participation and equitable and appropriate education outcomes. These goals are enshrined in legislation and supported by a range of programs, including a special Aboriginal study grants scheme to assist individual students, and special admission policies in tertiary institutions. The government has increased spending for improved educational outcomes for indigenous students by around $16.3 million in 1999-2000. All states and territories have agreed to identify performance improvement targets for reporting in 2004. This will facilitate the development of national reports in areas such as attendance, literacy, retention rates and indigenous employment.

I turn to health. Although Aboriginal health standards remain unsatisfactory, they have been improving. Indigenous infant mortality rates have been reduced since the 1970s from 20 times the non-indigenous rate to three to five times that rate. It is not perfect, but we are getting there. The prevalence of trachoma has been substantially reduced overall. Death rates from infectious and parasitic diseases are declining. Male death rates from cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, injury and homicide have been declining since the mid 1980s. The government has made indigenous health a priority focus since coming to office. The expenditure has increased 51 per cent in real terms since March 1996 and, by 2002-03, it will have increased by 62 per cent over that period. There are four broad components to the government's strategy: developing primary health care and infrastructure and resources; targeting risk factors and specific causes of disability, morbidity and mortality; improving the evidence base for health interventions; and improving communication with primary health care services, indigenous peoples and the general population.

There have been some key initiatives in the Commonwealth's practical efforts to improve indigenous health. The government has agreed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health framework agreements to improve planning and provision of health services with ATSIC, the Aboriginal community controlled health sector and the governments in each state and territory. In 1997 ministers for health agreed on a set of national performance indicators and targets for indigenous health, and now every government reports on progress made in Aboriginal health and provides data enabling national monitoring to occur. Under the auspices of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health framework agreements, state and federal governments are also addressing socioeconomic issues underlying the poor health status of indigenous people—for example, through a new national framework that provides guidelines for the design, construction and maintenance of safe, healthy and sustainable housing.

I turn now to the apology and reconciliation, which Senator Faulkner spoke about. Both the Prime Minister and I, as Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, have expressed our personal sorrow over the distress that past practices of family separation have caused to indigenous people. The government in August last year sponsored a historic motion of reconciliation in both houses of parliament which expressed deep and sincere regret that indigenous Australians suffered injustices due to the practices of past generations, which recognised that many indigenous people continue to suffer trauma and hurt as a result of those practices and which reaffirmed a wholehearted commitment to the cause of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

Regarding the separated children inquiry, I have come in for concerted criticism in the last week because of my submission to the Senate inquiry into stolen children. I can only repeat that I am very sorry if people have been hurt and distressed by the reopening of these issues. It was certainly not of my doing, in that the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee asked for a report and I addressed the terms of reference of that inquiry. The government had nothing to do with composing those terms of reference. To sensibly and responsibly address the terms of reference requires an analysis of all aspects of the issue, including the question of the numbers. We developed our response to Bringing them home in 1997 in line with HREOC's finding that family reunion was the most urgent need of separate people. We issued a major, dedicated package of initiatives, totalling $63 million, to address the consequences of past indigenous child separation practices, focussing on helping people to re-establish family links, supporting individuals and families through counselling and parenting programs and providing an avenue for those affected to record their experiences.

In relation to law and justice, I have always been very concerned about the disproportionate rate of incarceration of indigenous people. This concern resulted in my convening in 1997, of my own volition, a summit of state and territory ministers—those responsible for justice, policing, correctional services and indigenous affairs—and indigenous representatives. Initiatives arising out of the summit included the development of indigenous justice strategies by the states and territories to reduce this over-representation. The Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, which I am chairing this year, is committed to progressing these initiatives in cooperation with indigenous organisations. In the 1997-98 budget, $1.9 million was provided for pilot initiatives designed to improve long-term outcomes for young offenders, including half a million dollars specifically for indigenous young offenders. An evaluation of indigenous pilot projects found that the projects had a measurable impact on young offenders and at-risk young people and in the 1999-2000 budget the government committed a further $1 million over two years to fund similar young offenders diversionary programs.

I turn now to family violence, which is something that is so fundamental but seems to be totally unrecognised. There is a state of denial in the Australian community—and particularly in the Labor Party—about family violence. As anybody who has visited the communities—as you have, Mr Acting Deputy President Lightfoot, and as I certainly have, and it has been a great privilege to do so over the last four years—would know, the level of family violence in the communities is almost overwhelming. The Democrats in particular have taken no cognisance of this, although I can understand the Labor Party taking no cognisance of this.

Senator Lees —That is not true.

Senator HERRON —You have the right of reply.

Senator Lees —But it is not true.

Senator HERRON —The Democrats were there for the 13 years that the Labor Party was there, and when did they take the initiative on family violence? Serious levels of violence and abuse are becoming the norm in many indigenous communities and many women and children live in constant danger. I have been very concerned that we address this in an urgent and effective way. I therefore sought advice from indigenous community representatives and, with their assistance, developed a national strategy on indigenous family violence, which has since been endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. I did that. I have regard for that, as a badge of honour, but not for some political motion that will occur today. We will be trialing a coordinated whole-of-government approach in a number of communities around the country and, under my chairmanship, MCATSIA will be monitoring progress. I am very pleased to have the support of Senator Newman in addressing this issue—in my view, the most pressing issue in indigenous Australia. The most pressing issue in indigenous Australia today is family violence—no question—and I get emotional about it when I see those 13 years of wasted opportunity and that this has been going on for many, many years.

Senator Bolkus —That is a lot of bunkum.

Senator HERRON —Mr Acting Deputy President, I want it recorded in Hansard that Senator Bolkus says it is a lot of bunkum.

Senator Bolkus —Mr Acting Deputy President, what I said was that the minister's claim—

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Lightfoot)—Senator Bolkus, are you rising on a point of order?

Senator Bolkus —I rise on a point of order. I rise on a point of order so that this minister does not distort the facts again. I said that what he was asserting about 13 years was a lot of bunkum. He knows full well what I said. He is trying to weasel his way out of this.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT —There is no point of order. You will resume your seat.

Senator HERRON —As I mentioned, Senator Newman is addressing this issue—in my view, the most pressing issue in indigenous Australia—and through Partnerships on Domestic Violence an amount of $6 million is being provided specifically for indigenous projects through her portfolio.

The opposition—and the Democrats and Senator Brown—claim I have failed to show leadership in indigenous affairs and failed to fulfil my ministerial responsibilities; that is the motion today. Over the last four years there have been demonstrable improvements in indigenous outcomes; improvements that will continue because they are soundly based, because they reflect the aspirations of the majority of indigenous people and because they are adequately and appropriately resourced. Those issues are based on what community people tell me as I go around communities. That is what they tell me and I have listened to community people. I have not listened to the rhetoric of the Labor Party, because I can guarantee you, Mr Acting Deputy President, that I would be very interested to know how many communities the Labor Party have actually visited in Australia. I have been going for four years.

Senator Bolkus —I've been to a few.

Senator HERRON —Senator Bolkus says he has been to a few, and I have been to a few. I am happy to stand on my record and on the record of the government.