ADJOURNMENT

Ms SCRYMGOUR (Lingiari) (19:55): I rise today to speak on an immensely important issue back in the Northern Territory, the YiSSA facility. I'm here to speak on the inhumanity and the incompetence of the Northern Territory government in their handling of this matter. The YiSSA facility at Batten Road in Darwin has, over many years, provided a safe haven for Aboriginal people from remote communities in the Top End.

There are many Lingiari residents who use this facility to access services that are not available in their home communities, such as for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence, shelters that are not available in remote communities and, more importantly, dialysis treatments. It's run by an Indigenous organisation, Yilli Rreung, which has effectively been operating in the remote and social housing space for decades.

The structured living arrangements at YiSSA include culturally informed administration and rent management and have an ongoing presence of contract security personnel. YiSSA is located on crown land controlled by the Northern Territory government. This crown land gives the Northern Territory government enormous capacity to maintain assistance for vulnerable Territorians without having to expend taxpayer funds on purchasing or leasing private land.

Because it is Northern Territory crown land, the Commonwealth cannot purchase the land or the assets without permission. The Northern Territory government has rejected our offers of support. A few months ago, the Northern Territory CLP government announced the decision to close this facility and forcibly relocate residents 100 kilometres away.

Yesterday, this process began. The decision to close this place of refuge beggars belief. The federal minister for Indigenous Australians proactively and constructively engaged on this issue, offering a substantial amount of federal funding to keep YiSSA going.

This was a timely and important step taken by Minister McCarthy, demonstrating sensitive engagement and a lot of leadership on her part. Residents of YiSSA and the special care they need and deserve cannot and should not be summarily banished to a distant location outside of the city limits. This is especially the case when a more measured and consultative approach could have resulted in a better outcome.

Both Indigenous and many mainstream organisations who work with these individuals and families have spoken out publicly in opposition to the closure and have written to me in my capacity as member for Lingiari. The two cohorts of particular concern are, firstly, those who require critical ongoing medical treatment and, secondly, families, women and children escaping domestic and family violence who need specialised long-term support across a range of needs.

There is a significant overlap between these two cohorts. I note that, although assurances have been given that residents with ongoing medical treatment needs—for example, dialysis—would not be moved to Batchelor and would instead be found a suitable alternative accommodation in Darwin, nobody trusts this government and they don't trust those government agencies in charge that their wellbeing will be looked after.

Regarding the families who require specialist DV assistance, we've had not only a lot of lobbying but also calls for a deferral until after the wet season in mid-2027. This will enable robust safety planning, client-by-client case management plans and consultation with the Aboriginal community controlled sector, who would carry the service through the wet season when demand and the risk of evacuations are the greatest.

By all accounts and by what I've been told today, the relocation has turned into an absolute fiasco. People's belongings are being moved out, but the facility that they're going to hasn't been sorted out nor fixed. This is an abhorrent decision by the Northern Territory government and one that is placing people's safety at risk.

There are four federal members elected to this parliament for the Northern Territory. Three have been calling for solutions and resolutions to this important issue. The CLP senator for the Northern Territory is missing in action.

I want to say to Senator Price that her electorate is not in Queensland. She is an elected senator for the Northern Territory, and she should step up and talk to her colleagues in the Northern Territory government. To pick on vulnerable women and children who have escaped sometimes the worst violence in their life and to think that this is okay, to push around those women and particularly those kids that have already been traumatised, is absolutely abhorrent.

The government should hang their heads in shame. House adjourned at 20:00