By Dana Morse

Copyright abc

Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Kerrynne Liddle has spoken for the first time since her colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was dumped from the frontbench, saying the pair is “on a unity ticket” when it comes to Indigenous affairs.

Senator Nampijinpa Price, in her resignation statement last week, flagged she would continue to speak out from the backbench on Indigenous issues.

“The plight of those in remote communities, the ongoing romanticisation of traditional culture that inhibits addressing the root causes of Indigenous violence today,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said.

“The ineffectiveness of bloated bureaucracies that have done nothing to ‘close the gap’, and the need to push back against activists who, ignoring the referendum outcome and the will of the Australian people, march on with the goals of segregation and reparations under the guise of that Orwellian phrase ‘truth-telling.'”

When asked whether she agreed with those characterisations, Senator Liddle said Senator Nampijinpa Price was expressing “frustration” with the discourse around Indigenous affairs.

“Like me, Senator Price is showing the frustration with people focusing on issues that aren’t critical to people right now,” she said.

“Right now, we have children not in schools but on the street. Right now, we have four Closing the Gap targets going in the wrong direction under this Labor government.

“I want people to start talking about those issues, not about ideas.”

The latest update to Closing the Gap data shows rates of out-of-home care, suicide rates, incarceration rates and developmental readiness for school are worsening.

Senator Liddle said she had a private conversation with Senator Nampijinpa Price and said she was looking forward to seeing her back in parliament for the upcoming Senate estimates session in October.

She denied the Senator, who vowed to “continue to speak up”, could become a distraction to the Indigenous affairs portfolio.

“Senator Price can continue to make a contribution not just in the parliament, but in the area of Indigenous Australians [affairs] where she now is on the backbench,” Senator Liddle said.

“There’s a lot of work to do, certainly not just in the NT, but nationally on improving outcomes. We are on a unity ticket to addressing these terrible metrics.

“I won’t be distracted from that and I’m sure that Senator Nampijinpa Price, given the issues in the NT, will not be distracted from that either.”

Showdown set when Senate returns

Parliament is set to return in the second week of October for Senate estimates, but Indigenous affairs will not be addressed in a standalone session.

The government has abandoned the usual cross-portfolio estimates hearings, with a spokesperson saying it will be the responsibility of “every government minister” to address Closing the Gap measures during hearings.

The change has been widely criticised, including by Senator Liddle, who said it would result in an “appalling lack of transparency and accountability”.

She said maintaining scrutiny would be a big focus for her and Senator Nampijinpa Price during estimates.

“We’ve had a reduction in our capacity to ask questions on a single day about Indigenous Australians,” Senator Liddle said.

“Senator Price and I are champing at the bit to get to Senate estimates because we continue to hear from people things that are going wrong and we want to be able to ask the questions of the bureaucrats and the government.”

The government has confirmed three additional days of hearings have been added to the estimates schedule at the end of the year.

Outlining her focus for the shadow portfolio, Senator Liddle said Indigenous affairs was an issue of “interest” to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, citing her recent trip to the Kimberley region to meet with Indigenous organisations.

Senator Liddle said the Coalition policy development process was still underway, but her focus would be on addressing worsening targets under Closing the Gap and tackling domestic and family violence and child safety.

“We will have policies, and the Coalition has been very clear about a policy process that we will work through,” she said.

“We will work through that very carefully, but I can probably bet that it will be focused on those four [Closing the Gap] targets going in the wrong direction.

“It will also be focused on addressing some of the drivers that actually contribute to those things going in the wrong direction.”