Federal Voice to Parliament Referendum

The Hon. S.L. GAME (14:51): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Attorney-General on the matter of Indigenous schools.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.L. GAME: I was disappointed but not surprised to read about the federal government's refusal to fund Yipirinya School's proposal to build boarding facilities in Alice Springs in an area where school attendance is shockingly low. The school has been part of a $75 million funding package designed to give our most vulnerable children a safe and secure environment. Instead, the federal government has put the safety of these at-risk children on hold to press on with the $384 million Voice referendum.

My question to the Attorney-General is: does the Attorney-General support the Prime Minister's move to direct investment away from tangible solutions for Indigenous Australians to focus on his own legacy?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:52): What I firmly and wholeheartedly support is doing things differently. I don't think a single person in this room thinks that governments in the past have done as much as is possible in the best way possible for First Nations people in Australia. We see shocking statistics year after year, the gaps getting larger as Closing the Gap reports are handed down. If anyone here thinks the status quo is acceptable, where the average life expectancy of a man born on the APY lands is 48 years, I would love to have a conversation about why they think that's acceptable.

What we have been doing over and over again has not been working. I wholeheartedly and absolutely support the proposal for recognition of First Nations people in our constitution via a Voice to Parliament. I had the great privilege this morning of being out at the Playford Civic Centre where the Prime Minister announced the date of the referendum for 14 October. To characterise having a referendum where Aboriginal people will have more of a say in the decisions that affect their lives as not caring about education I think is quite despicable. I will be doing everything in every minute of my spare time to do what I can campaigning for a Yes vote.