Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As Senator Crossin indicated, this bill is not only a stunt but also an unworkable bill. Evidence provided to the committee by many witnesses talked about the drafting problems that were evident and the unworkability of the bill in effect. I refer people to paragraphs 2.31 to 2.37 of the report which concludes by saying:

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation concurred, stating that, in the absence of any draft regulations, it is impossible to tell whether the consultation processes proposed by the Bill would be any better than those currently in place:

If you want to make an amendment, make it to the Native Title Act.

Let me go to another issue. The assertion from that side is that the Queensland legislation means that economic opportunities that could be available to people of Cape York are now not available. If this is the case, why were those economic opportunities not taken up prior to the beginning of the wild rivers legislation? Why have things changed? There is simply no change. There have been 173 applications made since the instigation of the Wild Rivers Act on Cape York Peninsula. One hundred of those 173 applications have been approved and a number of them are in abeyance.

I go to the role of the Balkanu Cape York Peninsula development Corporation. Balkanu is the economic development organisation of Cape York Peninsula and they, as is their right, are running a campaign against the Queensland legislation. That is their right, but at the same time they are tasked and funded to assist Aboriginal people of Cape York to progress any economic aspirations. Why are we not surprised that the economic development organisation is not in fact doing this? If you were an Aboriginal person living on Cape York, why would you go to Balkanu to get assistance when you knew they were running the campaign against the state government? I think that is a problem. It needs to be resolved and it was canvassed during the hearing. Let us also go to the division in the community about whether or not the Queensland legislation is a good or a bad thing. It is a shame that I cannot finish my speech. (Time expired)