‘Disgusting’: Push for Aboriginal child abuse probe rejected

After the Voice wipeout, a bruised Albanese government was asked to support a Royal Commission into child sex abuse in remote Aboriginal communities. Have your say in our poll.

Just days after leading the No camp to a roaring victory across Australia, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has pushed for “practical” action to help Aboriginal Australians by demanding the bruised Albanese government support a royal commission into child abuse in remote Indigenous communities.

The Alice Springs senator moved an urgency motion in the senate late on Tuesday calling on the government to support the coalition’s position of a royal commission, an audit of Indigenous program spending and a push for practical initiatives to Close the Gap.

The motion was shot down with a Ms Nampijinpa Price claiming Labor and the Greens came up with “disgusting” excuses to not support her calls.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Picture: Martin Ollman

“They have chosen to ignore the plight of our more marginalised, which is Aboriginal kids, “ she said.

“There are those that have been victims or survivors themselves of what’s going on in remote communities who I have been doing this on behalf of, and I have to go back and tell them that the Labor government does not support them.”

A week of mourning by Aboriginal Yes campaigners in the aftermath of the referendum has done little to afford Mr Albanese any cover with the Coalition pushing the PM to “be honest and upfront” on his commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.

The statement has three demands, the now defunct Voice referendum, a Makaratta Commission for truth telling about Aboriginal history and a First Nations treaty.

Labor is facing pressure from the Greens with Indigenous senator Dorinda Cox urging the government to “not abandon us”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Picture: David Beach

“You set us up and you committed to this in full,” she said.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton used Question Time to bring up Mr Albanese‘s 2021 declaration that “there can be no real progress on Closing the Gap and there can be no reconciliation without treaty and truth-telling.”

But Mr Albanese declined to recommit to the statement despite his deputy Richard Marles backing it in full just days ago.

On Tuesday both the Prime Minister and Mr Marles distanced themselves from pursuing the second components of the statement – truth and treaty – warning against expectations the next steps would be developed within days.

Pushed on his apparent lack of conviction, Mr Albanese said he was respecting the wishes of Indigenous leaders.

“I think that is pretty reasonable. We will then have a process of consultation,” he told parliament on Tuesday.

Opposition Peter Dutton. Picture: David Beach

The government last year allocated $5.8m in funding to create a truth telling mechanism, known as the Makarrata Commission, to be pursued after the referendum.

On Sunday, Mr Marles declared that Labor‘s full commitment to treaty and truth telling remained. Asked again on Tuesday, he watered down his remarks.

“We have made clear that we hear the Voice of the Australian people and that the pursuit of reconciliation, the pursuit of closing the gap is no longer going to be achieved through constitutional reform,” he said.

“But we are completely committed to a process of reconciliation and we are deeply committed to a process of closing the gap.”

A typically quiet Scott Morrison piped up from the backbench: “That’s not what you said on Sunday”.

The government hit back on the Coalition pointing to Mr Dutton‘s backflip on his call to walk away from a second referendum to symbolically recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.

MPs from all sides of parliament gathered for the first time since Australians voted against the referendum for their party room meetings.

Mr Albanese told his troops they should be “proud” of the “good faith” Labor showed in putting the referendum to the people.

The party room also remained silent on the other two elements of the Uluru statement with no questions asked to the leader about a Makarrata Commission or federal treaty process.

A spokesman said Mr Albanese urged MPs to focus on the cost of living and the government’s Housing Australia Future Fund and a recently inked skills agreement with the states.

Meanwhile down the hall, Mr Dutton demanded Mr Albanese “come clean” about the next steps for Indigenous policy.

Originally published as ‘Disgusting’: Push for Aboriginal child abuse probe rejected