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The Hon. JAN BURNSWOODS [4.10 p.m.]: This afternoon I will speak about the organisation known as Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation [ANTAR], and will refer to matters raised in its most recent newsletter dated September 2004. The lead story, and I share ANTAR's opinion about its importance, relates to the actions of the Howard Government and the University of Sydney in enabling the university to shed its indigenous nursing degree. In this House we have heard quite a lot about the likelihood of the closure of undergraduate nursing training at Sydney with students to be transferred to other institutions. However, we have heard far less about the important issue of what will happen to the indigenous nursing training program. As many honourable members know, indigenous health is a national crisis in Australia. The ANTAR newsletter states:
It is widely agreed that better access to primary health care and a larger health workforce, particularly well-trained Indigenous health care workers, are essential to tackle this crisis.
In this area, perhaps more so than in other areas, the role of the nurse, specifically the indigenous trained nurse, is most important. This argument has been endorsed by, amongst others, the Australian Medical Association [AMA], whose comments were based on research by Access Economics. In its newsletter ANTAR continues:
A trained Indigenous health workforce is especially important and the AMA estimates that an additional 2,570 indigenous nurses need to be trained. News that a specialist Indigenous nursing course faces an uncertain future is therefore very worrying.
I congratulate those who have criticised this action by the Federal Government and are trying to ensure a future for indigenous nurse training. In particular, I congratulate ANTAR, the New South Wales Nurses Association and the National Tertiary Education Union. I refer to ANTAR's comments about the forthcoming Federal election, in which it states:
ANTaR cannot see a return of the Coalition as anything but a disaster for Indigenous Australia and those who care about social justice. The Coalition's eight years in government have seen the abandonment of the principle of elected national Indigenous representation, the rejection of any engagement with rights-based (and so-called "symbolic") issues, and very little or no progress in addressing socio-economic disadvantage. We urge those who wish to vote for the Coalition to do everything they can within those parties to defeat the policies which are so damaging to Indigenous Australians and the whole nation.
Unfortunately, judging by the catcalling from the Coalition members, the chance of anyone associated with the Coalition parties doing anything to overcome these damaging policies of the Howard Government is slim. I now refer to comments by ANTAR in relation to State issues. It published a detailed article on the Aboriginal trust funds and the panel examining the repayment scheme. As honourable members would be aware, as we have debated this matter in the House, the issue in New South Wales, as in other States, is about the great injustice that was caused when money was essentially stolen from Aboriginal workers over many decades by such bodies as the Aborigines Protection Board. Meetings have been held this year and the New South Wales Government has taken action to look at ways of identifying the money owed and devising an equitable system of repaying the Aboriginal people whose wages were essentially stolen from them. This matter is much more than a symbolic issue. It is real money we are talking about.
As I have done previously, I urge the New South Wales Government to take this matter seriously. We sometimes hear about so-called symbolic issues, such as reconciliation. I believe these issues are much more than symbolic ones. When one looks at the figures for Aboriginal workers involved in a range of industries—particularly rural industries—and for Aboriginal women as domestic servants, or more correctly described as domestic slaves, we have many decades of injustice to overcome. I congratulate ANTAR on its actions on this issue and many others and I urge honourable members to support its activities.