Linda Burney has delivered her valedictory speech to parliament after 21 years in politics. Ms Burney was the first indigenous woman to be elected into the house of representatives and the first Indigenous woman to hold the Indigenous Australians portfolio. She says she's proud to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00I never dreamt I could grow up to be a member of parliament, let alone a minister in the
00:08federal government. Nina and Billy, I hope I made you proud. Being elected to this place
00:16was the greatest honour of my life. From fighting against the unfair and illegal robo-debt scheme
00:23during my time as shadow minister for human services, to securing landmark commitments
00:30to remote housing, justice reinvestment and remote jobs, delivering justice to the families
00:37affected by the collapse of Eupla, doubling the number of indigenous rangers, but most
00:44importantly being part of a government that is building new dialysis units in remote Australia
00:52and rolling out hundreds of new indigenous health workers, amazing new infrastructure,
00:59delivering a pipeline of improvements to remote drinking water supplies, as well as better
01:05digital connectivity, revitalising First Nation languages and growing opportunities for education,
01:13and now, with the leadership of the Prime Minister, economic development. But there
01:19is so much more. We've also committed to establishing a National Children's Commissioner
01:24for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and children. These steps forward
01:31are a team effort. Ministers stepping up, ministers taking responsibility for delivering
01:38for indigenous people in their portfolio, the whole Labor cabinet doing its bit. This
01:46is a profound and incredibly important improvement. Because when I arrived in this place in 2016,
01:54it felt like issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been pushed
02:00into a silo, to be dealt with only by the Indigenous Affairs Minister.