SYDNEY—The shadow minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Jacinta Yangapi Nampijinpa Price, has told hundreds of Australians that Labor’s proposal for The Voice referendum will not assist Indigenous communities.
“The Gap is more about place than race,” the Country Liberal Party senator said, addressing the audience gathered for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Sydney following a conservative-styled Welcome to Country, featuring the didgeridoo, the national anthem, and “I Am Australian.”
The Warlpiri-Celtic senator was elected by the people of the Northern Territory in 2022 to represent them in the Australian Parliament.
“I got into politics because I saw problems in my hometown, in the Northern Territory, and in my country that I thought I might be able to do something about. I put my hand up to go to Canberra because I thought I could be a voice for my community. Clearly, they did too,” she said.
“When I put my hand up, I had looked at the research, I had looked at the Gap, and thought, maybe I could use my experience to suggest some real action, some real solutions.”
The difference in outcomes across the people of Australia “doesn’t simply exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians; the Gap exists between those who live in cities and those who live in remote and regional Australia,” she said.
Ms. Price said that Australians living in metro areas enjoyed access to 24-hour chemists, 24-hour emergency rooms, and schools for their children within walking distance—not the six-hour return bus ride that some in regional communities face.
The Gap in Australia also “exists between those who have the ability to use their land and their resources to help their communities, and those who are blocked from doing the same by red tape and activism,” the senator said of the impact of government politics in shaping the quality of life in rural Australia.
“Well-meaning Australians are being lied to: told that the problems in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are a product of systemic racism or colonisation, and that the answer is to listen to academics and activists from the cities—academics and activists from what I refer to as the ‘Aboriginal industry’—the people profiting off marginalisation,” she lamented.
Price Wants to Investigate Aboriginal Billion-Dollar Industry
But the senator has a different vision. She believes that to truly “Close the Gap,” Australians need and deserve to know that their government and the institutional bodies tasked with doing this important work are being accountable to their mission.“At the moment, my colleagues and I are working to get an inquiry into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land councils and governing bodies. I want to find out how the billions and billions of taxpayer dollars going into these organisations are actually been spent year in, year out. I want to know what’s working and what isn’t so that we can actually properly aim our resources to help those who are most in need,” she said.
Despite her efforts in Parliament to seek accountability, many of her questions to the Indigenous land councils and organisations have been left unanswered, the senator said. And despite being taken on notice, two months later, the questions she has filed on behalf of Australian voters, the indigenous voices she represents, and taxpayers remain unanswered.
“After questions that my Coalition colleagues and I put to [the government] on behalf of you and all Australians … they’re only too happy to ignore us and ignore you, as well as our most marginalised.
“Clearly, if you have nothing to hide, what’s the problem with us having a look?” she said.
Most government-funded bodies are also refusing to answer questions, she added.
“There is absolutely no shortage of goodwill in this country,“ she clarified. ”There is no shortage of Australians who want to see the best outcomes for their fellow Indigenous Australians who are our most marginalised. But there is a shortage of accountability.”
“This country has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on Indigenous Affairs over the decades to try to help our most marginalised. But without accountability, without transparency, and without understanding how it’s being spent and the effectiveness of these organisations, we will not be able to improve the lives of our most marginalised.”
Ms. Price also said she didn’t think it was a good idea to have “97 percent of the country pass judgement on 3 percent.”
She said that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has chosen to surround himself with one small group of Indigenous Australians who she doesn’t believe “care about Australians.”
“They want their rent paid, they want reparations, they want to punish politicians,” she said.
“Enough with the gaslighting, enough of the attack on our shared Australian values … Teach our kids to be proud to be Aussie again,” she said, suggesting that race-based judgements be left behind in the darkness of history. “Let’s continue to be one Australia together and not a country divided.”
