Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Native Title Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2010 contains an important measure to complement and assist the government’s closing the gap agenda by facilitating the timely provision of quality public housing and associated infrastructure on land in Indigenous communities which is, or may be, subject to native title.

The government has a genuine commitment to improving the lives of Indigenous Australians and addressing Indigenous disadvantage. Housing is at the centre of this commitment.

It is vital to achieving the advances needed in health, education and employment participation outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

The government has committed an unprecedented $5.5 billion over 10 years to address historic underfunding of housing in remote Indigenous communities.

To ensure the new delivery model for Indigenous housing avoids the pitfalls of the past, secure tenure arrangements are now a requirement of all major investment in housing and other infrastructure. This makes government responsible and accountable for effective management and maintenance of these assets.

However, some state governments have indicated that uncertainty in relation to native title could be a barrier to meeting housing and service delivery targets. There is a risk this will create delays in the delivery of housing.

This bill introduces a new process specifically for public housing and a limited class of community facilities including education, health and emergency services facilities, and staff housing associated with these facilities.

It will apply primarily to acts of state, territory and local government bodies.

The new process strikes a balance between the need for these services and the need to engage meaningfully with native title parties and protect native title rights and interests.

It also contains important safeguards to ensure genuine consultation with native title parties.

The new process sets out reasonable and specific periods for comment and consultation, and provides flexibility to allow native title parties to choose the level of engagement they feel is appropriate for each individual project.

It will be subject to state and territory heritage processes.

The bill also enables the Attorney-General to prescribe how consultations with native title parties should occur, including general guidance on the issues to be included in consultation. This includes the capacity to set more detailed requirements such as face-to-face meetings and provision of interpreters.

The bill also requires that reports on consultation be provided to the Attorney-General as the responsible minister. The Commonwealth intends to make these reports public, providing for public scrutiny on the new process.

Acts covered by the new process will be invalid if there is a failure to notify, provide a consultation report or observe the minimum specified time periods. This ensures that a proper process is followed and that governments can then be certain that the investment has been validly applied.

Finally, the new process will sunset after 10 years.

The 10-year period approximates the duration of the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing under which the $5.5 billion to which I have referred has been committed.

The government is determined to continue on the course of resetting the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and to recognise and respect native title.

Alleviating poverty and improving housing and infrastructure in Indigenous communities is paramount to this effort and hence the reason for this bill, which I commend to the House.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government makes big promises and therefore is responsible for epic policy failures. Indigenous housing is yet another one we can add to the list of this Labor-Greens alliance government, a government that has lost its way and failed Indigenous Australians.

I rise this morning to speak on the Native Title Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2010, the passage of which will deal with issues that could potentially delay house and infrastructure construction in Indigenous communities. The coalition will be supporting this bill. The bill is designed to overcome a range of delays associated with, and a number of uncertainties currently surrounding, land ownership in Indigenous communities, including the construction of housing and other associated infrastructure. The bill is a reintroduction of previous legislation introduced and passed by the House in November 2009, but which lapsed. As has been the case with so much of the government’s agenda, I am disappointed to note that this bill, despite being listed as non-controversial and despite being listed for debate on a number of occasions during this year, has only now been brought on, on this the last day of sitting for 2010.

The legislation creates an important new subdivision which provides for the timely construction, by the Crown, a local government authority or a statutory authority, of public housing and a limited class of public infrastructure for Indigenous people in communities on Indigenous held land. And whilst the Commonwealth will have the power to act in a timely way for the purpose of building housing, the irony is that the government’s Indigenous housing program has been anything but timely—another program riddled with delays and problems, another program that is delivering little actual benefit on the ground.

The new amendments enshrine provisions to ensure the relevant representative Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander body and any registered native title claimants in relation to the land where construction is proposed will be notified of the proposal and will have the opportunity to comment on acts that could affect native title. Importantly, this bill does not extinguish any native title and specifically provides for compensation for any impact on native title rights and interests.

Social dysfunction and poor health outcomes are directly associated with the state of disrepair of Indigenous communities and the government has undeniably failed these communities. We must tackle housing overcrowding and the state of disrepair of much of the infrastructure in remote Indigenous communities. We must address issues associated with failures in proper maintenance regimes and systems.

The new provisions in the act would operate for 10 years. This 10-year period is designed to match the 10-year funding period under the current national partnership agreements between the Commonwealth and the states and territories on remote Indigenous housing and remote service delivery. I would remind the House that this agreement has, however, already been in place for two years—that is, since November 2008. And what have we seen in those two years? Very little. To give you an understanding of how inefficient the government has been in delivering this program, in the Northern Territory, the SHIP agreement has barely delivered 85 of the promised 750 new houses.

It seems that the government is all talk and no action on Indigenous housing. The then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was big on talking. He talked and talked and talked. He promised, he committed, he proclaimed. But he did not deliver. He failed. This program has been nothing short of a disgraceful failure of government administration. The most concerning thing is that we have gone from the Rudd-Gillard government—one dominated by inaction and epic program administration failures—to the Labor-Greens alliance, where the extremist Greens have an open door to setting the agenda.

The coalition reaffirms its disappointment at the failure of the government in managing and delivering Indigenous housing projects. This bill will mean that the government’s excuses will have to stop. There can be certainty that there are no inhibitors to delivering Indigenous housing projects. The coalition supports this bill and I commend it to the House.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being approximately 1.45 pm the debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour.