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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-29 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND RECONCILIATION

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:20): Today I rise to talk about Aboriginal affairs and reconciliation here in South Australia. I do so on a day when I understand the federal government has introduced a bill for an act of constitutional recognition of Australia's first people. I also understand that our own Premier, the Hon. Jay Weatherill, plans to make a similar announcement on constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in our Parliament House this afternoon. Unfortunately, of course, nobody on this side of the house has been informed. We just hear these rumours coming to us via the media. It is completely unacceptable, but this is becoming a key theme of this government in the way that they operate with regard to Indigenous affairs in South Australia.

It is completely unacceptable that the opposition has not been consulted by the Premier on his plan to change our constitution in South Australia. When the Premier first announced his intention to consult with the people of South Australia about a constitutional change, he again sent a message to the opposition, as a text message, at a quarter to eight at night before his announcement the next morning at breakfast on this important issue. It shows complete and utter disregard for this important area, which should be bipartisan. He then, at the breakfast, proceeded to lecture the opposition about how important it was for the Liberal opposition to get on board with this important reform. What a hypocrite! His government has continually used this important portfolio to create a wedge.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Point of order: that is definitely unparliamentary language.

The SPEAKER: Yes; I point out to the member that was unparliamentary language, calling someone a hypocrite. I would ask you to withdraw it.

Mr MARSHALL: I withdraw the word 'hypocrite', Madam Speaker; but I go on to point out the failings of this government in terms of working in this portfolio in a bipartisan way. Both the current minister (minister Caica) and the former minister (minister Portolesi) have had Dorothy Dixer questions, asked of themselves here in question time, designed purely to raise the issue of the Liberal Party's non-mandated position to acknowledge country at every single opportunity. I point out, of course (I have to be careful of the word 'hypocrite'), this can be seen by some to be hypocritical because the simple fact of the matter is not everybody on the other side of the house is acknowledging country at every opportunity.

We think it is completely unacceptable that the government would use question time to try to drive a wedge in this important area, especially when the portfolio is actually called Aboriginal affairs and reconciliation. How can this be seen as an act of reconciliation with the government continually trying to attack the Liberal Party? We believe that it is completely unacceptable. Traditional Labor voters are now expressing their long-found dismay of the government's performance both at federal level and at state level in handling Indigenous affairs in Australia.

Former ALP national president Warren Mundine has resigned from the party. The Labor Party should hang their heads in shame. Tauto Sansbury, a former ALP candidate both at state and federal levels, has resigned in complete and utter dismay. There are many, many more, and the people on that side of the house actually know this. These people, like the Liberal Party, appreciate that this is a difficult portfolio. We acknowledge that it is a difficult portfolio, but it is one that needs to have a lot more than lip service paid to it; it is important.

We asked today about his government's performance on this important portfolio in question time. What does the Premier do with his time allocated to answer this important question? He decides to launch an attack on Liberal Party performance in this area from more than a decade ago. The simple fact of the matter is the government should be focusing on the current performance and the future performance; it is completely unacceptable.

Both major parties have had their highlights in terms of this area and their lowlights in terms of this area. I feel very proud of the Liberal history in this area. I feel very proud that my friend Ken Wyatt, member for Hasluck, is the first Indigenous person elected to the House of Representatives in Canberra. I feel very proud that Dean Brown was the first premier in Australia to apologise to the Stolen Generations—11 years before the federal government did this. We have not performed well in this area in this state for the past decade. That is a complete and utter statement of fact. Yes, there have been some improvements but overall much more work needs to be done, and this needs to be done in a bipartisan way. The fact that the Premier fails to consult is absolutely shameful.

Time expired.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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