Tanya Plibersek unleashes on Peter Dutton over ‘failed’ Indigenous policy

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has taken Opposition leader Peter Dutton to task over his push for an Indigenous child abuse Royal Commission despite his government’s cuts to Indigenous funding. The Opposition Leader and Coalition have called for an audit into Indigenous spending and a Royal Commission into sexual abuse in remote communities. “We don’t need a royal commission to know that we need to act on family violence and child sexual abuse,” Ms Plibersek told Sky News Australia. In 2014, the previous Coalition government had cut $534 million from Indigenous programs over the next five years. Since coming to power, the Labor government has invested $590 million into programs on domestic and family violence, with $260 million of that dedicated to Aboriginal women and children. “We are investing to turn around a problem that the previous government knew about,” Ms Plibersek said. “If there are failures, perhaps he should look first at what he failed to do when he was in government.”