Mr PEARCE (Braddon) (11:23): I rise today in this auspicious meeting place as a representative of the north-west, the west coast and King Island in the electorate of Braddon in Tasmania. I do this alongside the 150 representatives from regions right across the nation. This is a level playing field; the very layout of this chamber embellishes that. It's a circle. It represents that everybody in this place has an equal voice and, importantly, an equal right to be heard. That is a crucial part of our democracy. My role in this place is to represent every man, woman and child in my electorate. It is their voices that I strive to bring to this place, not necessarily my own. In speaking about closing the gap, I have sought wise counsel from those within my electorate. Amongst the people that I spoke to was a young Aboriginal leader, a leader in our region, and one with a true voice for Indigenous peoples. When I spoke with her yesterday, she said that she was in another meeting place, in an ancient land, a rugged land, where waves were crashing in against the rocks, at Bluff Point on the west coast of Tasmania. For 60,000 years it has been a sacred meeting place. She gave me her wise counsel, speaking from the generations that have gone before her and with a clear and genuine view for the future that lies ahead. Her name is Emma Lee. I regard her as my sister and I rate her most definitely as a true leader. Today, in this place of voices, she has leant me her voice, without agenda, in a desire to find a better pathway forward for all Tasmanians, to move towards a brighter future for us all. She gave me a very clear message, and it gives me great pride to present that message in this place to the nation. 'Ya' is the Palawa word for 'hello', and that is how a message begins. She says: 'Ya. As Indigenous peoples, we do not have a formal right or a formal say over our own affairs and, as a proud Aboriginal Tasmanian woman, I am diminished by it. I want to make a positive difference for all Tasmanians, because my cultural obligation is to welcome people to country and to care for them. If I cannot provide the advice that looks after everyone together, then how are Australian people meant to know that they too belong to us and they too share in the oldest living culture in the world?' Emma says: 'Ya. I want to make everyone welcome freely in my country with respect so that we can live and work peacefully together. The Indigenous voice will help us make a difference so that people are not lonely anymore and so that they have a connection to country and to Australia itself. I want a hand up so that you can hear me, not a hand down that speaks on my behalf. I want to belong to you so that you can belong to me and we can belong to the oldest living culture in the world. If we welcome each other in government in parliament, we can become equal in how we care for country. I want to share our culture with everyone, and I want to stop hurting, because our peoples are not allowed to have a proper say in our lives. This government can make a difference with the Indigenous voice for this place.' To my dear friend Dr Emma Lee, I deliver your message to this place and to a nation. It would do us all to take note of it. Our government has to work to do more to ensure that Indigenous advice is formally included in all process and that we are open to other parts of the Australian community. We have made a great start in the national agreement on closing the gap to ensure Indigenous organisations have a greater say in funding outcomes. It's important that we continue to build on that goodwill. The voice means that many close the gap targets will have a greater chance of succeeding, because we are now working together, as it should be, to hear from all Australians in a process that is equal for all. That must be our goal, and I am proud to support the government's policy to create that pathway so that we can stand together on issues that are important to us all as Australians. Ms BURNEY: I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Grayndler. It recognises that 13 years ago the then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, made a very long-awaited National Apology to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the nation. It was one of the first items of business of the newly elected Labor government. The landmark inquiry into the stolen generations, the Bringing them home report, had been launched a decade before. For 11 long years those taken, and in fact the whole nation, waited for the words 'we are sorry'. The Bringing them home report had 54 recommendations. This included that Australian governments acknowledge and apologise for the policies of forced removal. The recommendations included the Indigenous Child Placement Principle—the notion that, when an Indigenous child must be removed, they be placed with a family member, a member of the child's community or another Indigenous carer. It's not just the recommendations that are important about this report. It drew a line in the sand for us as a nation. No-one could ever say again, 'We didn't know.' It represented an important act of truth-telling. There were many thousands of people who survived and were able to tell their stories for those of us who remained. Of course, the Archie Roach song 'Took the Children Away' says: We'll give them what you can't give Teach them how to really live. Teach them how to live they said Humiliated them instead Taught them that and taught them this And others taught them prejudice. You took the children away … The motion emphasises the importance of closing the gap and a commitment to, in fact, bring about justice and equity for First Peoples in Australia. Good words are only truly meaningful when they are accompanied with sincere deeds and lasting progress. This is the first year since the apology that we will not get a report from the Prime Minister on progress, or lack of progress, on the targets. What concerns me is that, after a decade, progress against the seven targets in 2020 was dismal reading, as the member for Grayndler outlined. At the conclusion of those seven targets, only two were on track. Child mortality; reading, writing and numeracy; school attendance; employment outcomes; and life expectancy—all not on track. These aren't just statistics; they are lives. I'm sick of going to the funerals of people who have died too young. The National Agreement on Closing the Gap is indeed welcome. It is welcome especially because of the partnership with the coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations. This is a good thing. There are 16 new targets, with two still being negotiated. States and territories will have to report, as well as the Commonwealth. Labor in principle endorsed the new targets—in particular, the targets about the overrepresentation of First Australians in the child protection system as well as the criminal justice system, two targets that Labor had been advocating for for many years. The time frame for these targets is another 10 years. This means that, on the expiration of the new targets, over two decades will have passed since Closing the Gap first began—23 years, a whole generation. I say to this parliament: that is a very long time, so it is important that we get this right this time. We must not allow this decade-long time frame to become the impetus for kicking the burden of progress to future parliaments If we want to see real and lasting progress on Closing the Gap, we need new investment. The Commonwealth government must fully embrace its share of the new Closing the Gap agreement, not simply wash its hands of responsibility and pass it to the states and territories. The First Nations people need to be placed at the centre of decision-making on issues affecting First Nations people. We are best placed to find the solutions on issues that affect us. Labor remains committed to the Uluru statement in full. This includes the constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament, a voice that reflects the diversity of challenges that we face across the nation, a voice that listens to our regions and remote communities as well as our urban areas. It's been 3½ years since the Uluru statement. It's time to get on with it and get it done.