Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Ms SCRYMGOUR (Lingiari) (12:44): It is a privilege to be speaking today on the Albanese government's agenda for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Indigenous public policy is a complex space, and it is one rooted in history and context. I do not shy away from the fact—and it was interesting sitting here listing to the new member for McPherson and hearing his ignorance and hearing him spouting misinformation, particularly on areas in the Northern Territory, when he was talking about the budget.

Maybe he needs to get a history lesson on what happened in the Northern Territory under the Morrison Liberal government and the lack of funding particularly for places in Central Australia but also the Northern Territory, which was starved of funding for 10 years under the Liberal government. I have spent a lot of my professional life working in this area, often at the coalface of government policy, and witnessing firsthand its impacts on a lot of our remote communities.

From that vantage point I can see the challenges facing a lot of our remote communities across the nation. The challenges are vast, complex but also structural, and it takes a concerted effort by all levels of government to address them. I was listening to the member for Bonner when she was talking about women's policy and how that policy needs to be across government.

It's the same with Indigenous affairs and Indigenous policy. It needs to not be pigeonholed in one area, because our communities, our people are sick of being pigeonholed. It needs an answer from right across government so that these intractable issues, which we are seeing the communities confront all the time, can finally be the responsibility of ministers and the government.

I applaud the Prime Minister and all of our government ministers, but in particular our minister for Indigenous Australians, who's putting her shoulder to the wheel and who knows what needs to be done. So good on the Labor cabinet and government, who see that there needs to be a whole-of-government effort, working in this area, to try and close the gap and make a difference to Aboriginal people out in the bush.

One of the policy centrepieces that we took out-bush to a lot of the remote communities during the election was the Low Cost Essentials Subsidy Scheme. I want to commend the Minister for Indigenous Australians and her agency, and Outback Stores for their policy work and the rollout of this scheme. It seeks to reduce the cost of living for people in remote First Nations communities by lowering the price of 30 essential items, such as pasta, rice, tinned vegetables, canned fruit, nappies, soap and toilet paper.

These are very basic essential items, but this scheme has certainly made a huge difference to people going into those stores and purchasing those items. We're saying 30, but really it's about 160 items. I can tell you that, going around a lot of the remote communities, it is making a difference to families and it is making a difference to how people are eating.

But it is also changing the way people are investing their money and buying those foods. So this has been really good. About 100 remote stores have signed up to this subsidy, and it is being positively received.

The other program that is being rolled out is the Remote Jobs and Economic Development program, which is the old CDP. We've begun the hard work of rectifying this and rebuilding a remote employment program. In a lot of areas in my electorate where jobs are hard to come by we're finally seeing a lot of young people engaged in full-time jobs.

That's often good, because if we can stop a young person from ending up in the justice system by being out in their community and working full time and being productive then that is a good thing. The store program, the jobs program, the huge investment into Central Australia—there is so much more that the Labor government has invested in the Northern Territory.

They are only three small areas, but they are also big areas that will certainly make a difference to those communities, on top of the $4.2 billion housing and homelands program, which is the biggest investment of any federal government into the Northern Territory. Proposed expenditure agreed to. Remainder of bill—by leave—taken as a whole and agreed to.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.