This week it was revealed that the Palaszczuk Labor Government plan to entirely abandon the Family Responsibilities Commission (‘FRC’) – a bipartisan welfare reform initiative that has improved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives in Cape York for a decade.
Labor’s Deputy Premier Jackie Trad announced to a shocked crowd including local FRC Commissioners that the FRC would be cut and replaced with an entirely unknown model known as ‘Thriving Communities’.
LNP Shadow Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Dr Christian Rowan has called on the Deputy Premier and the Palaszczuk Labor Government to reverse this cruel cut to the FRC.
“The Family Responsibilities Commission has been operating for a decade to improve the lives of people in Aurukun, Coen, Hope Vale, Mossman Gorge and also recently in Doomadgee – all of this progress is in jeopardy, Dr Rowan said.
“While visiting Cape York this week many people expressed their anger to me about the Palaszczuk Labor Government’s decision to cut the FRC.
“The FRC has always enjoyed bipartisan support since it began, and it is disgraceful to see the Deputy Premier trying to play the blame game with Canberra for her callous decision to abandon the FRC.
“And now the Labor Deputy Premier has been caught out being deceptive after claiming that there was no federal funding for the FRC beyond December this year.
“The Labor Deputy Premier Jackie Trad needs to stop playing politics, get down to work and focus on achieving real outcomes for Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
“I completely understand the frustrations of Indigenous leader Noel Pearson who feels ‘sick in the stomach’ about this.
“Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk should show some leadership, stop the blame game and concentrate on closing the gap.”
