Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

That provides the answer but it is not a satisfactory answer. In other words, you are making no guarantees when you take away these people’s land, because that is what you are doing. Let us be clear: that is why Tangentyere Council and the members of that community said, ‘No, we won’t hand over the leases because we do not want to hand over the hard fought for control of our land.’ What you are saying—if I have interpreted you correctly, and again I am happy if I am wrong—is that it will not now be for the benefit of Aboriginal people. You are going to treat those lands like any other suburb. That is what you just said. You have answered the question but it is a totally unsatisfactory answer and I think the community, when hearing that answer, will be extremely distressed. That is why they did not want to hand over the leases in the first place and it is why they said no. You would not negotiate; they were prepared to negotiate. What you have just said is exactly what they are scared of.