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The opposition leader Tony Abbott has signalled he'll make major changes to indigenous affairs policies should the Coalition win office later this year. As Prime Minister, Mr Abbott says he'd assume direct responsibility for improving the lives of Aboriginal Australians, a move which would sideline the Indigenous Affairs minister.
Tom Iggulden
Source: Lateline | Duration: 4min 6sec
Topics: indigenous-policy, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, federal-government, canberra-2600, australia
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has signalled he'll make major changes to Indigenous policies, should the Coalition win office later this year.
As prime minister, Mr Abbott says he would assume direct responsibility for improving the lives of Aboriginal Australians, a move which would sideline the Indigenous Affairs Minister.
But Mr Abbott was less forthcoming on the precise nature of the reforms he intends to introduce.
Political correspondent Tom Iggulden has more from Canberra.
TOM IGGULDEN, REPORTER: Aboriginal disadvantage has long been policy fascination for Tony Abbott.
Tonight he told a mostly white, urban audience in Sydney that fixing dysfunction in Aboriginal communities has been too low a government priority for too long.
TONY ABBOTT: This will change should the coalition win the election.
TOM IGGULDEN: He's pledging to take direct responsibility for resetting Indigenous policy.
TONY ABBOTT: Under an incoming Coalition government, Indigenous affairs will be handled within the department of prime minister and cabinet. There will be, in effect, a prime minister for Aboriginal affairs.
ABORIGINAL RESIDENT: Continue to feel guilty.
TOM IGGULDEN: The Coalition would still have an Indigenous Affairs minister Northern Territory senator Nigel Scullion currently holds the portfolio but it's unclear where they'd fit in the changes Mr Abbott's planning.
TONY ABBOTT: It's gotta start at the top. It's gotta have the authority of the Prime Minister.
TOM IGGULDEN: There was less detail on how Mr Abbott would tackle entrenched problems in remote communities. Some possibilities were floated like employing truancy officers to fine parents when kids wag school, rather than the current welfare quarantine scheme.
Lifting incentives for teachers and health professionals to work in Indigenous communities and making it easier for Aboriginal people on missions to buy their own house.
TONY ABBOTT: That would help to make land an economic asset as well as a cultural and spiritual one.
TOM IGGULDEN: The Opposition Leader's aware the Coalition's track record on Indigenous affairs will be a cause for suspicion with some.
TONY ABBOTT: I think it was a pity that as a government we got hung up on that word, "sorry."
(EXCERPT FROM JOHN HOWARD'S CAMPAIGN SPEECH)
JOHN HOWARD: It is absolutely quadrant to the fact, and I can't believe...
TOM IGGULDEN: Tonight he distanced himself from John Howard, the man he served as health minister in the last coalition government.
TONY ABBOTT: John was of a generation, of a circumstance, where perhaps Indigenous people were not as valued as in different circumstances and different times.
TOM IGGULDEN: Mr Abbott chose one of Mr Howard's most famous phrases to describe the ultimate goal of his policies.
TONY ABBOTT: There may come a time, perhaps some decades hence when we can be relaxed and comfortable about the circumstances of Indigenous Australians.
TOM IGGULDEN: The Prime Minister today addressed a very different Australian sub-culture - celebrating St Patrick's Day in Melbourne.
DERMOTT BRERETON, FMR AFL PLAYER: Other side. I got two. Two!
AUDIENCE: Yay!
TOM IGGULDEN: And in Canberra, the Resources minister was also giving some love to foreign imports.
MARTIN FERGUSON, RESOURCES MINISTER: (laughs)
TOM IGGULDEN: But taking a different tack on the Prime Minister's recent campaign against imported labour.
MARTIN FERGUSON: Migration reflects the needs of the economy. When it's strong, then there's gotta be a bigger intake of for example 457 visas.
PETER BEATTIE, FMR QLD PREMIER: Chalk and cheese.
TOM IGGULDEN: Another labor luminary agrees.
PETER BEATTIE: Look I think we need to be very careful about the rhetoric.
TOM IGGULDEN: Peter Beattie warning the Prime Minister against restricting skilled migrant imports.
PETER BEATTIE: There are some areas where we frankly need overseas workers and those visas have a very important role in the Australian economy.
TOM IGGULDEN: The former premier also took a shot at this week's proposed changes to media laws which he says risk painting the government as attacking press freedoms.
PETER BEATTIE: But this is a debate that could backfire, and I've got a bit of time for Conroy, I think he's smart in a whole lot of ways, but he needs to handle this debate really really well.
TOM IGGULDEN: Mr Abbott's speech tonight threatens to steal momentum from Labor's push on immigration and media reform just as the government was beginning to gain ground on the policy front after weeks of speculation about Julia Gillard's leadership.
Tom Iggulden, Lateline.
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