Finally, a realistic approach to indigenous policy, without the poetry

The Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Kym Smith

Scott Morrison’s claim that at the heart of the policy response to the indigenous problem lies a “senseless dysfunctionality” is a powerful indictment on a decade of government failure.

Morrison would be the first to admit he has never been an outspoken advocate of indigenous issues. That is not to say he doesn’t care.

On his desk is an image of a plaque cemented into a rock at Hermannsburg in the Northern Territory in memory of Shirley Ngalkin, who in 1998 was raped and murdered at the age of 11.

This, he claims, has informed his approach since he first visited a remote community as shadow minister for housing in 2009.

In his address to the 11th Closing the Gap report card today, Morrison has taken a different path to past leaders. He has called out the failures of the past 10 years as inevitable disillusionment, even if it was unintended. It is not a criticism of Kevin Rudd or any of the past prime ministers who have sought to address it.

But the “top down” approach that presumed from the start that Canberra could solve all problems was a road to disappointment.

It has taken 10 years for governments to conclude that leaving indigenous communities marginalised from the process might have been a mistake.

Morrison promises to deliver a speech without the customary patronising poetry and symbolism and instead focus on a practical approach to an issue that continues to defy an enduring policy response.