Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I table a series of documents between the Mutitjulu community, the Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations and Mr Wayne Gibbons, Associate Secretary of Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, and other documents. What these documents show people is that the Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations has been compromised by this government. Unfortunately, whilst the people of Mutitjulu—and, I am sure, in other cases—would like to seek an agreement or negotiate settlement with the Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations, they have been prevented from doing so effectively by actions of the government. That tells me there is a real problem with independence. There is absolutely no doubt about the need to overhaul the legislation.

Many of the proposals that have been put forward within the package of legislation that we are discussing today give effect to some very important reforms. There is no question about that. But there are some legitimate concerns which we have and which have been articulated within the amendment which I have moved on behalf of the opposition. It is very important that, when we contemplate these issues, we understand what in fact has taken place. In this instance, we have legislation which started off in the 1970s and is clearly out of date, and clearly should have been appropriately amended a lot earlier. The package of legislation seeks to do a lot of good things, but at the same time there are things which it fails to do. The things which it fails to do are the things that concern me.

I am significantly concerned about the complexity of the legislation. It is evident enough to me that for most Indigenous organisations across Australia it will be far too difficult to adhere to and comply with the regulations being imposed upon them. Nevertheless, under advice, I am sure there is a possibility that they can do it. But the question remains: who will pay for that advice? It is clear to me what the government is doing: by using the Registrar to control corporations in the way that it is, the government is effectively misusing those responsibilities. I commend the opposition’s amendments to the House.

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