Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for her question and her interest in this very important project. She is interested because she is doing a wonderful job of representing the people of Solomon, and this, as she points out, is a project which has had a long history. It is something that has not been resolved to this date, but we are getting on with the job of doing something about this very important Cox Peninsula Remediation Project.

As the member for Solomon is aware, the Commonwealth currently controls and manages land holdings on the Cox Peninsula, subject to the longstanding Kenbi land claim, under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. The Minister for Indigenous Affairs obviously has the lead on the land claim itself, but I know that the Commonwealth, the Northern Territory government and the Northern Land Council are working closely to finalise arrangements.

There is no getting around the fact that one of the reasons that the Kenbi land claim remains unresolved is that a portion of the land on the Cox Peninsula to be transferred to the traditional owners includes heavily contaminated areas, as pointed out by the member for Solomon. This requires remediation, which represents a significant Commonwealth liability. She pointed out that this does not come cheap.

Remediation of these contaminated sites is a Commonwealth responsibility. The mess was made over many, many years, and we need to clean it up. Setting aside $31.5 million in funding for the remediation works demonstrates the Commonwealth's bona fides in wanting to bring the claim to a satisfactory resolution for all concerned. That kind of commitment has been a long time coming, as the member for Solomon correctly pointed out.

I have met with people and I have spoken to them about the project. There is a slight sense of suspicion, I have to say, that the money is not quite secure. There is a suspicion there, but I can assure the member for Solomon and my colleagues opposite, as I have assured others, that we have set aside the funding for this project, for this purpose, and we are committed to seeing it completed.

The need for these works and whether or not they represent value for money has recently been the subject of an enquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Public Works. The committee has issued its report, and I am delighted to be able to inform the member for Solomon that it has absolutely endorsed this project—that is good. All that remains is for a motion to be moved in the House that it is expedient for the works to be undertaken—to use the somewhat antiquated language of the Public Works Committee Act 1969—and I am pleased to inform the member for Solomon that I hope to be able to do this later in this sitting week.

All remediation works will be completed to a national standard, as you would expect, and this will support the land's useability and future development potential. Whilst specialist expertise will be needed to complete the remediation, there will be opportunities for Indigenous employment—that is tremendous—and participation. We have already had a model for ensuring community participation from some priority remediation works which were undertaken late last year.

Deputy Speaker Irons, I know you, being an AFL follower, will be interested to know that they had a wonderful gala day in conjunction with those priority works where they got the local Indigenous players and the local AFL team and got a lot of the kids involved. It was a great day.

Work was undertaken on the Cox Peninsula between September and December 2014 to mitigate risks associated with asbestos-containing materials, hazardous materials, dilapidated buildings and various waste stockpiles prior to the onset of the 2014-15 wet season. The project involved moving 867 bags of contaminated waste—most containing ACMs and each one weighing in excess of 1300 kilograms—from these dilapidated buildings to shipping containers brought to the site. The buildings were then decontaminated and demolished. A secure but temporary staging area was constructed on site where contaminated material and other waste that could not be recycled offsite is being held until the commencement of the 2015 dry season. Other tasks involved clean-up of informal waste tips, removal of old transformers, improved fencing and security of the site.

As well as mitigating the environmental and human health risks posed by the unsecured contaminants, those early works provided significant employment opportunities for the local Aboriginal community, particularly the Kenbi ranger group, the Kenbi Rangers. The Kenbi Rangers were actively engaged and involved in several facets of the project, including provision, land management, rehabilitation services, cultural monitoring and security services. These are not token gestures or make-work activities; these are real jobs.

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