Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to highlight and bring to the attention of this House an issue which goes beyond the boundaries of my electorate in Solomon. Before this sitting of parliament, I was fortunate enough to visit Kakadu National Park with Gagudju Association executive officer, Rob Trenerry. I wish to inform this House that what I saw was a blatant example of federal Labor's mismanagement and buck-passing. During my time at Kakadu, I visited some of the local Indigenous communities, including Mudjinberry, which is near Jabiru. At this community, I was informed by the traditional land owner and member of the Murumburr clan, Jessie Alderson, that many of the local dirt roads leading to the Indigenous communities have deteriorated to such an extent that the school bus would no longer drive down the roads to pick up the children for school. This has meant that many children in these Indigenous communities located within Kakadu cannot attend school. As a result, attendance at the local school has dropped, a situation which is expected to become worse in the coming wet season. I spoke with Judy, a local Indigenous mother, whose daughter Babylon has suffered as a result of these roads. She told me how her daughter loved to attend school and how upset she was when she had to stay home. Judy is on dialysis and depends on these buses to pick up her daughter and to drop her home.

What is incredible about this situation are the flow-on effects that it has had. Due to the roads not being drivable, the buses will not pick up the children, the children do not go to school, the parents are punished for not taking their children to school and the children lose interest in their education—and, finally, the Labor government has failed. What saddens me about this situation is that, because no-one is willing to help these people, Jessie, the traditional land owner, a woman in her 60s, has been dragging a tractor tyre attached with a steel chain behind her car in an attempt to try to smooth the roads. She has been driving up and down these roads dragging the tyre so that her great-grandchildren can attend school and get an education. She tells me she has written to the member for Lingiari and her local council but no-one will listen to her or give her help.

We have a Labor government which claims they care about Indigenous communities, yet her local federal member, the member for Lingiari, who also happens to be a minister in this government, does not have the courtesy to respond to her request. Unlike this government, the coalition does care about Indigenous communities and their children's education. That is why I have brought this very important matter to the attention of this House. Hopefully now this Labor minister will respond to the people—his people—that he has been ignoring previously.

With the last of my remaining time I would like to congratulate the Greek Orthodox Community of Northern Australia for this year's Glenti. The annual cultural festival was a brilliant success and I enjoyed being part of this event. (Time expired)