Page 1962 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2017
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it was not the case, but when I specifically asked these questions at a briefing, I was told the exact opposite. It goes to the quality of briefing.
This has been a real problem. The minister said two things. She did not intend to imply that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community were at fault or confused. She did not intend to imply that, and I will take her at her word. But I clearly heard the words from the Chief Minister—who did not imply; he actually said—that they were confused. He actually said that they were confused. It might be useful for the Chief Minister to come in here today and apologise as well. If he did not intend to use those words, he should apologise.
The other issue is that although I have never been the person in the Liberal Party responsible for overseeing the establishment of the Ngunnawal bush healing farm, it has been my clear understanding from the outset—I, too, may be confused, Madam Assistant Speaker—that this was going to be an alcohol and other drug rehabilitation centre. It is quite clear. We even noticed in the budget papers yesterday, on page 24 of budget paper C, listed in the rollovers from 2015-16, an item called “Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm”. There is a footnote that says that previously this was entitled “Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Residential Alcohol and Other Drug Rehabilitation Facility”.
So somewhere along the line there has been a whole lot of confusion. When Jon Stanhope met with the Ngunnawal elders back in 2002, and in that period they were proposing a Ngunnawal bush healing farm, the clear message was that this would be a residential alcohol and other drug rehabilitation facility. It has been a clear message. It was such a clear message that it was recognised as such in the budget papers until this year.
There seems to be a real problem of lack of understanding. There is real confusion in the community. That real confusion stems from the model of care that was proposed in 2010. I have not read all of it, but I have read extensive parts of that model of care, and it is quite clear that that model of care was envisaged as a residential alcohol and other drug rehabilitation facility. The conversations that my office and I have had with members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community make it clear that that is what they expected. And it is perfectly clear that when there was a walkout in May by Winnunga Nimmityjah from a meeting about the model of care, it was because their expectations were not being met.
It is timely that the minister comes in here and apologises for the confusion, but the apology for the confusion does not address the underlying issue about what the Ngunnawal bush healing farm is all about. What we seem to be seeing here is a bit of historical revisionism. It is a bit like the Stalinist situation where you airbrush people out of photographs. The budget papers have clearly changed the meaning. The budget papers that came down yesterday clearly show that there has been a strategic change in what the Ngunnawal bush healing farm does, because in their own notes on page 24 of budget statement C, it clearly says:
This initiative was previously titled “Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Residential Alcohol and Other Drug Rehabilitation Facility.
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