Media Release by The Hon Mal Brough MP

Indigenous Queenslanders don’t rate a mention

14 September 2006

Indigenous Queenslanders no longer rate a mention in the new Beattie Ministry.

With eighteen ministers and eleven parliamentary secretaries (an increase of five), Mr Beattie could not find a place for the Queensland Indigenous population.

Australian Government Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, said this was a poor start for the fourth Beattie Government and does not bode well for the future of Queensland’s Indigenous people.

The removal of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy portfolio will not mean an end to the problems of the Cape, Palm Island or Woorabinda and numerous other communities in desperate need of assistance.

Queensland’s Indigenous communities deserve better than this.

Acknowledgement of Country

The Australian Government acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, water, culture and community. We pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.