Coalition frontbencher Julian Leeser will accuse the Albanese government of failing to chart a path forward for Indigenous Australians since the Voice referendum in his first major speech since regaining the Indigenous affairs portfolio he quit in a crisis of conscience when the Coalition opposed the vote.
Leeser will also challenge the dominance of Closing the Gap targets in setting policy and call for a “new direction for Indigenous affairs” that prioritises autonomy and flexibility in the areas of education, economic development and suicide prevention.
“I think it is a conversation our country desperately needs to have,” he will say, according to a copy of his speech.
The annual Productivity Commission report into Closing the Gap data was released this week, showing Australia had reached one of its targets for the first time – almost all Indigenous children aged three and four were in kindergarten.
At the same time, though, metrics for early childhood development, children in out-of-home care, suicide and adult incarceration went backwards.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said she was pleased to have met the preschool enrolment target. “But clearly a lot more work needs to happen in terms of the other targets, in particular around justice and out-of-home care,” she told the ABC on Thursday.
“I’m absolutely determined. The prime minister is determined. As he said in February, failure is not an option … We have to go harder, really.”
But Leeser will argue, in a speech at the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Friday, that Labor’s Indigenous affairs policy has been adrift, lacking clear direction and purpose, since the Voice referendum was defeated in October 2023.
Leeser resigned from the Coalition frontbench in April 2023 so that he could champion the Yes vote, having worked for 15 years with Indigenous leaders and lawyers to advance constitutional recognition. He was re-appointed to the Indigenous affairs portfolio by Angus Taylor in February this year.
“I was part of the discussion from then, up to and including the 2023 referendum. But I think the defeat of the 2023 referendum was the Australian people sending a message,” he will say.
“Non-Indigenous Australians want their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander neighbours to have the same opportunities and the same chances in life as they do. But Australians have told us that after nearly two decades dominated by questions about constitutional reform, they want to chart a different path.
“The tragedy of the last three years is that we have not seen that message reflected in government policy. I think the simple truth is that, ever since the defeat of the Voice, the prime minister has lost his direction on Indigenous affairs.”
Albanese will not attend this Garma festival, despite last year promising to go every year while he was prime minister. He told the ABC he would be on leave, having not “had a day off all year”.
McCarthy on Thursday pointed to the government’s delivery of more jobs in its commitment to lift outcomes. “What we’ve done at the federal level is to see 3000 jobs rolled out across remote Australia with another 3000 jobs on top of that, plus the reduction in the cost of living with the food security,” she said.
“We have around 120 stores across remote Australia that are now providing food at half the price.”
But Leeser will reference the 6000 entry-level jobs policy and say: “We must do better than that. A country must be ambitious about its own people.”
“We all know where the prime minister stood on the Voice. I stood there, too. But since the defeat of the Voice, he just hasn’t gotten off the mat. It is time to get off the mat,” Leeser will say.
“In the post-Voice world, we need a way forward that is defined by greater autonomy and flexibility in our approach to Indigenous policy … As I look to the future, my framework is very simple. It is rooted in three key pillars or focus areas.”
On education, Leeser wants schools to have more autonomy to work with Indigenous communities, and for the private sector – through philanthropic partnerships – to invest in public schools like they do in the non-government sector, where students have recorded all-time high retention rates.
On economic development, he will argue that Indigenous businesses should scale, and government should intervene where necessary to help them reduce regulatory burdens and access capital, including by leveraging title interests.
And on suicide, he will call for more support for organisations that do social outreach and work on innovative solutions for suicide prevention in communities.
Leeser will caution that Closing the Gap targets should not dominate Indigenous affairs policy. According to this week’s release, four targets had insufficient data to measure them. The lack of up-to-date data means they cannot be the foundation for effective, evidence-led policy, Leeser will say.
McCarthy also acknowledged that data collection was critical. “The gaps that the Productivity Commission may have, we have to work with them to ensure that we can get the appropriate data,” she said on Thursday.
Leeser has also written to the auditor-general requesting she examines how the National Indigenous Australians Agency – a bugbear of former Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price – is administering and co-ordinating federal funding in remote communities.
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Natassia Chrysanthosis Federal Political Correspondent. She has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect viaXoremail.
