Dysfunctional treatment of Indigenous Australians will continue unless voice exists, Ken Wyatt says

Ex-Liberal minister tells referendum committee First Nations people despair for their future because they are never listened to

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Australian governments still have a missionary zeal" of wanting to deal with Aboriginal people" that hasn't changed, and unless there is an Indigenous voice advising governments the present dysfunction will continue, the former minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has told a parliamentary committee hearing in Perth.

Wyatt, a Yamatji man, said the dysfunction has led to what he called a futility syndrome" among Indigenous young people, who feel despair that they have no future in the nation because they are never listened to.