Subject:
Indigenous emergency; industrial relations
E&OE...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen. I've made my speeches today, have you got any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you've been accused of trying to orchestrate a land grab ...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is ludicrous. We are leasing the land for five years, then it goes back, if there's any disturbance of title involved in that there'll be compensation paid. There are people trawling around to find a fault and can I just say to those people we are seriously trying to help indigenous communities. We're seriously trying to stop abuse of indigenous children and they can make their stories up, they can slander what we're trying to do but we're not trying to take anything from anybody. We're trying to restore innocence to Aboriginal children. This idea that we're stealing a generation, we're protecting a generation, this idea we're grabbing land, we're trying to secure the future for these people but they can do, you know, they can do their damnedest but I don't really care because we know what we're doing is right.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, it's a week since you've announced the plan. Has it progressed as far as you would like it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh yes. I mean Mal may want to add something because he's across some of the detail better than I am but I think in a week we've come a long way with doing assessments of what is happening in individual communities. We're going to have the first meeting of the task group tomorrow. I'm encouraged by the support of respected indigenous leaders like Noel Pearson, even Warren Mundine who obviously doesn't share my politics, he made that very clear but he's very supportive of what we're trying to do. I think that's very encouraging.
JOURNALIST:
How do you believe the task force meeting will go tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it'll go very well. We're happy with the people who are on it and it'll be a nice opportunity for both of us here in Brisbane to talk to them and exchange ideas but the thing I'm going to emphasise again and again, there's only one thing that matters here and that is protecting the indigenous children and responding to the concern that obviously exists in the community about this issue.
JOURNALIST:
Some of the cynics also say that you might be looking to take the opportunity to change mining rights and legislation?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I mean, let them, you know, romance, imagine and they're desperately trying to find a fault. Now I know that, they want this plan to fail because to them winning some kind of doctrinal argument is more important than protecting the children.
JOURNALIST:
If after the five years are you offering a 100 per cent guarantee that the land will go back to the holders?
PRIME MINISTER:
We're offering a guarantee that we're not taking anything from anybody, we're trying to give things back.
BROUGH:
Can I just add to that? Look, we've got the people of Tiwi right now who are almost concluded a 99-year lease. Nothing that we're doing here disturbs those arrangements and if people want to use the legislative requirement or legislative provisions we've made, that's fine, but we don't have any subtext to what we're doing. And where are they going to go next on this issue? They're trawling through land tenure issues, they're trawling through election stunts. Every argument gets knocked over, can't we as a nation once and for all say this is it, we're going to get behind protecting children. Just, I direct your attention to the comments that were made by an Aboriginal woman from the south of the NT yesterday.