Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 7112 together:

(1)   Clause 5, page 9 (line 18), omit "section 44 or 45", substitute "section 44, 45 or 45A".

[eligible interests in an area of land]

(2)   Page 72 (after line 33), at the end of Division 9, add:

45A Eligible interest in an area of land—native title land

Scope

(1)   This section applies to an area of land if:

  (a)   the area of land is native title land; and

  (b)   there is a registered native title body corporate for the area of land.

Eligible interest

(2)   For the purposes of this Act, the registered native title body corporate holds an eligible interest in the area of land.

[eligible interests in an area of land]

Just to remind the Senate what these amendments do, one of the real benefits of this legislation is that it should open up opportunities in rural and regional Australia for Indigenous people. This is something that everybody in the Senate I am sure supports. The way the legislation is currently written is extremely restrictive. As Senator Xenophon commented earlier, the National Native Title Council came out very strongly saying that a large proportion of Indigenous land in Australia is held under non-exclusive native title and, hence, people who have non-exclusive native title would not be able to benefit from the Carbon Farming Initiative.

In the committee hearing I was very concerned about that. I was very concerned actually about two things in relation to Indigenous people. One is the whole legal question around who has some interest in the carbon rights on any piece of land, and that is where this amendment goes to because it expands the coverage from just exclusive native title to non-exclusive native title interests. I think that is a really big improve­ment to the legislation and will give access to more people. The second level of concern I have with regard to Indigenous communities is that, even if we get this expanded definition for exclusive and non-exclusive native title having access to the opportunities under the Carbon Farming Initiative, Indigenous communities may not have the capacity to be able to engage in and develop projects. I have certainly talked to the government at length, and indeed the Senate committee recommended that we actually address that, and I am confident that that is being done. I have spoken to the government and I am well aware that there have been lots of discussions with the Closing the Gap program and others to try to make sure that there is funding available to deal with capacity building in Indigenous communities.

Just to be clear, this amendment is very specific. It expands the coverage of this legislation beyond exclusive native title to cover non-exclusive native title rights as well. The impact of that will be in the size of the land. For example, on Aboriginal land that is not freehold land—Aboriginal reserve and so on—you find that you are not going to get the take-up and we need the take-up. The areas detailed in the committee report, for example, show that the area of land where exclusive native title determination exists is 693,930 square kilometres and the area of land where non-native exclusive title has been determined is 344,007 square kilometres, accounting for approximately one-third of land where native title has been determined. So I think this will be a good outcome. I understand the government is going to support this and I know that it is something that Indigenous communities have really put very strong views forward on. It will be a welcome improvement to the legislation. I urge the Senate to support it.