Ms BURNEY (Barton—Minister for Indigenous Australians) (12:33): I recognise country and recognise the care and custodianship of country and culture. I stand here in front of you as the member for Barton but also as a First Nations woman from the Wiradjuri nation. Sixteen years ago, one word changed our country forever: sorry. It was not about guilt or blame; it was about facing up to the true history of this nation. Above all, it was about people—people like the stolen generations survivors and their families who join us today. As we reflect on one of the most tragic, brutal and damaging chapters of Australia's story, the shadow of this history is cast long and falls not only on those who were taken but through the intergenerational trauma that was unleashed in our families and communities. To those from the stolen generations and your families: I acknowledge your strength, your courage and your resilience. Thank you so much for being here. Today, 16 years after the apology, we are releasing the 2023 Closing the gap annual report and the 2024 implementation plan. Much has been said about the Productivity Commission report released last week. I want to be clear: all levels of government need to do better, as the Prime Minister said, if we are to make progress on closing the gap—all levels. As the Prime Minister also said, this government is committed to the ongoing National Agreement on Closing the Gap. We are determined to work with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coalition of Peaks on the four priority reforms. The first of these is formal partnerships and shared decision-making, the key to self-determination. The second is building the community control sector, which is about community taking responsibility for delivering services people trust. The third is transforming government organisations so they work for everyone. Finally, the fourth is shared access to data and information so we can make the right decisions together and act on evidence. If we get these priority reforms right, we will make progress on the targets. In recognition of our partnership, I look forward to welcoming the Coalition of Peaks to meet with the cabinet in the near future. The same old approach of insisting that government knows best has not worked. It is in that spirit that today the Albanese Labor government announces, as the Prime Minister said, a New Jobs Program to create 3,000 jobs in remote communities, and I can assure the opposition leader it will be delivered. We are replacing the failed Community Development Program with real jobs, proper wages and decent conditions. Starting later this year, the New Jobs Program will be developed in partnership with First Nations people. Everyone, this will be life-changing for many people in remote communities. The old CD Program was a failure. We all acknowledge that. It failed individuals and it failed communities. I thank the Prime Minister for his commitment to this important reform. This is about putting communities in the driver's seat to create local jobs—jobs that will strengthen communities and grow remote economies, and jobs that will deliver what communities need and what communities want. Communities have told me they want to access things like laundries, butchers and mechanic shops and to build up the local skills that are needed for the care economy, service and maintenance so that there is more work and more opportunity for locals and less reliance on fly-in fly-out workforces. In the remote community of Galiwin'ku in the Northern Territory, for example, at the Miyalk Kitchen, Yolngu women train and cook meals for people visiting the island. Local woman Rita Gurruwiwi says of the program's success: When you work you feel better, you have money and can provide for your family … we're showing a pathway for our children. As well as the New Jobs Program, we are also investing, as the Prime Minister said, $30 million in remote training hubs in seven remote communities. A government member: Hear, hear! Ms BURNEY: The minister says, 'Hear, hear!' Hear, hear indeed! We are investing $10.7 million to continue funding the Justice Policy Partnership and the rollout of wi-fi in 20 remote communities. We've also announced today that we will establish a Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, because the number of children in out-of-home care is unacceptable. Twenty-seven years on from the Bringing them home report, Indigenous children are almost 11 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children, and, of course, all children, no matter who they are, deserve to be safe. The new commissioner will work with communities and state and territory commissioners and will focus on strengthening families and getting better outcomes for First Nations children and young people. This has come about through the long-running advocacy of the peak group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, SNAICC, some of whom are in the gallery today—g'day, Muriel!—who, in partnership with frontline experts and the Minister for Social Services, have worked so hard. We have been working on the best way to make sure that this delivers change for our children and, while we all know the gap is not closing fast enough, there are some rays of hope. I stood here last year and described it as a disgrace that there are First Nations communities in this country that still do not have reliable access to safe drinking water. We are, as the Prime Minister has said, addressing that through work led by the Minister for the Environment and Water. New wi-fi access is being delivered in remote communities through work being led by the Minister for Communications, and work is underway to improve access to renal services in remote communities through work being led by the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Last year in Darwin I joined Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and a group of women from remote Borroloola. I'll never forget it. To stay alive, these women were staying in a hostel in Darwin, 900 kilometres from their community, so they could have access to life-saving dialysis treatment. They cried when we announced that they'd no longer have to make the huge trip to Darwin. Borroloola is getting a new dialysis unit as part of our commitment to providing better renal services for First Nations communities. With at least 34 chair renal dialysis units across the country, this will make a difference to people's lives. I want to acknowledge that there is still much hurt in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and across this country after the referendum of last October. Of course, it was not the result we had hoped for, but, as the Prime Minister said, we accept the outcome. As the Minister for Indigenous Australians, I want to say to First Nations people: I will work with you towards a better future. As the Prime Minister has said, we are going to take the time required to get makarrata and truth-telling right as treaties progress at a state and territory level. To Pat Turner, Catherine Liddle and Scott Wilson—I can see some of you up there in the gallery—thank you so much for your hard work and your wisdom but, most importantly, your determination. I am looking forward to continuing to work with the Coalition of Peaks to close the gap and deliver a better future for First Nation people across Australia, always working in the spirit of self-determination. I will conclude today with the words of our grand lady, Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue, as relevant today as they ever were. Lowitja said: 'We are all here now and we have to solve our differences and lived together as Australians. Together, we can build a remarkable country, the envy of the rest of the world.'