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

I have another question and that relates to the fact that the argument for the acquisition of land and the emergency powers is that it is so that government can go in to get things happening quickly with the provision of infrastructure. You are saying that it then needs to be negotiated with the land council. The argument that the government has been putting is that we need to do this because we do not have the time to negotiate. That is why I asked that question before about land councils and what would happen if they say no, because what you are saying is that the government does not have any other powers under these provisions to say, ‘You’ll do it anyway.’ You do have a provision that says ‘must commence to negotiate’. It may be that I am interpreting that differently or putting the emphasis in the wrong place, but does ‘must commence to negotiate’ mean ‘You have to talk to us’?