Page 489 - Week 02 - Thursday, 14 May 1992
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It is very tempting to conclude, Madam Speaker, that regrettably, despite the enormous attention and enormous sums of money spent in the general area of improving the economic and social position of Aboriginals in this country, little has changed in the last 17 years.
Let us first of all look at the question of the size of the problem and the size of the group of people affected by this problem in the ACT. The 1986 census showed that the total ACT Aboriginal and Islander population stood at 1,220, which is a major increase on the 823 recorded in the 1981 census and the 248 in the 1971 census. However, only 40 of the nation's 21,541 Torres Strait Islanders lived in the ACT at the time of the 1986 census. The ACT therefore has 0.6 per cent of the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population living here. That may not be a major segment of our population, but it is one that needs to be critically examined in areas such as this by bodies such as this.
I indicate, Madam Speaker, that the Liberals offer strong bipartisan support on this issue to the Government. We welcome the response that the Government has tabled as a very positive step in the direction of improvement in this area. The Opposition Leader received a letter from Ms Follett last year seeking a bipartisan approach. I wrote back on behalf of the Opposition in September last year to outline the party's position, and I want to quote from that letter. I said:
The Liberal Party supports the establishment of an inter-departmental committee to formulate a draft response from the Territory Government. We welcome a bipartisan approach on this issue but would of course need to see the response before we could endorse it.
The Royal Commission found that Aboriginal people die in custody at a rate exactly equal to that of non-Aboriginal people. However, it is clear that the very large number of Aboriginal deaths in custody is a function of the imprisonment rate.
The report identified poverty as well as Aboriginality as major factors in the imprisonment rate. In particular, the Liberal Party supports recommendation 246 which recommends that all Australian governments put an end to the lack of accurate and comprehensive information on inputs to and activities of Aboriginal health programs.
There is a very real concern that status of Aboriginal health has not progressed in the past decade. The Liberals are also concerned that there has been no evaluation of the impact and effectiveness of Aboriginal health services operating in Australia, despite the fact that some services have been operating for almost 20 years.
We would be keen to see an assessment of the health needs of the Aboriginal community in the ACT.
The Liberals strongly support moves which would eliminate Aboriginal social, economic and cultural disadvantages. These disadvantages have been the principal reason for the disproportionate number of Aboriginal people in custody.
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