Mal Brough (Longman, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

On the first issue, that was a request of theirs that had come up from earlier negotiations and, yes, we did change and agree to their appropriately maintaining the underlying title, which means no-one relinquishes their rights to that land and what is going to happen to it at all. So that should not have been an impediment to a decision-making process; it should have actually sped it up. In relation to the second question, it is just a question that you would have to put to the people of Tangentyere. You get very conflicting advice back from different parts of the organisation and different individuals, so I would be simply speculating on the real reasons that underlie that decision.

Through my private conversations with senior members of the Northern Territory government, I know that they were confused. They were sure that a deal had been entered into, or was going to be, and that the majority of people agreed and then at the last minute it did not happen. We will wait and see what occurs and whether the Territory government can do it—at the end of the day, this is not the Commonwealth doing it; it is the Territory government, but we are providing the funds. They have as much interest as we do in trying to get an outcome on this, so I hope that they can overcome whatever objections are there. I left it open to the Chief Minister, expressing my willingness to talk to her at any stage in trying to move this forward.

See this speech in context