Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the support that the member for Kingsford Smith has given to the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Consequential, Transitional and Other Measures Bill 2006, the Corporations Amendment (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations) Bill 2006 and the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Bill 2005, a very sensible suite of bills. It is refreshing to see that support being given to the government.

I come to this debate from an electorate—Herbert, in North Queensland—that has 8,000 Indigenous Australians living within its boundaries. In my home city of Townsville we have the largest Torres Strait Islander population outside the Torres Strait. But we also have an Indigenous community that is known for the wrong reasons. Those who are listening to this debate today will know what I am talking about when I mention Palm Island. Palm Island has certainly very much been in the news of late, for the wrong reasons. I intend to say a few more words about the problems on Palm Island related to this legislation later in my contribution.

The Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act is not adequate today, given the high numbers of Indigenous corporations and their diversity, and also given developments in corporate law and other areas, such as native title. The broad objectives of the reforms are to align the CATSI legislation as much as possible with the Corporations Act 2001 to provide improved corporate governance standards while at the same time allowing for the special requirements and risks of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations.

The legislation package that we have before the parliament this afternoon implements the majority of the recommendations of an independent two-year review. The report was publicly released in December 2002. Extensive consultations occurred during this process, and further research and consultation were done by the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations in the lead-up to the development and the introduction of the CATSI bills.

Transitional provisions have been drafted, and this is sensible, to minimise the administrative burden on corporations as far as possible. For example, the corporations registered under the old act automatically become corporations under the new act. The legal status, office bearers, assets and liabilities of corporations are all preserved in the new act for the transitional period. There will be a period of up to two years for corporations to make the necessary changes to their constitutions and come into compliance with the new arrangements. The transitional periods are sensible and welcome.

This legislation responds to the present-day problems faced by Indigenous corporations. It aligns corporate governance requirements with modern standards of corporate accountability while allowing flexibility for Indigenous corporations to tailor their arrangements to suit their own special circumstances.

It is interesting that there are many Australians who do not have contact with Indigenous Australians. People in the southern part of the country, in particular, have no contact with Indigenous Australians and do not understand the very special issues that arise in regional or remote communities. In fact, the special issues in regional communities are often different to the special issues in remote communities.

I was very privileged some weeks ago to visit Warburton in Western Australia, which is a model Indigenous community. It was just so refreshing to see a community that knew how to conduct itself, a community that ran its own services—water supply, sewerage, electricity, airport, airline, local store and so on—all at a profit and all under good governance arrangements. It was a community that was tidy. There were not holes in houses. The people were proud to live in the community. That is what we want to see in Indigenous Australia, and Indigenous Australians are capable of achieving that. Warburton, on the Great Victoria Desert, adequately demonstrates how Indigenous Australians can be proud of their history and their heritage and can live well and properly.

This is very practical legislation that empowers Indigenous people to structure their corporations to create the best outcomes for their communities. It also allows for a range of assistance, from training to a rolling program of good governance audits.

I have often said, loudly and at length, that there are three or four things that really need to be addressed first and foremost to help Indigenous communities. They are: governance, law and order, and landownership. Until they are addressed adequately, the other major issues, of health, education and employment, will not follow. When you look at Palm Island in my electorate, you find a lack of governance, a lack of law and order and you certainly do not find any landownership. In fact, there is virtually a Soviet style system that exists on Palm Island, where the central proletariat owns and runs everything. But I can tell you, Mr Speaker, that Indigenous Australians want to embrace landownership and they want to have good governance. They do not want to see the disregard for law and order that occurs in their communities. They want their children and their women to be safe. This legislation before the parliament today is part of that. I commend the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs for his foresight and work in Indigenous communities in Australia. He has been a breath of fresh air after so many years. The minister certainly deserves the support of this parliament, from both sides of the parliament.

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