Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting the amendments. The first amendment seeks to clarify that land includes the surface and subsurface, of particular interest to the West Australian government, which has raised concerns about potential negative impacts on petroleum and mineral tenements. The government accepts that there is policy merit underlying this amendment, but in this form it may not achieve the intended outcome. The government will consider providing clarification in regulations to clarify that a person who holds a mining lease in relation to an area of land holds an eligible interest in that area of land. For these purposes a mining lease is a lease or licence, however described, conferring on the holder the right to mine or recover minerals or petroleum on a specified area of land. A mining lease does not include a permit or licence to fossick, prospect, explore, assess or undertake other activities ancillary to the mining or recovery of minerals or petroleum.

The other amendments relate to Crown consents for projects being undertaken by exclusive native title or freehold land rights holders—that is, on Indigenous held land that is equivalent to freehold. The bill currently removes the need for any relevant minister, either the minister administering a land rights scheme or the state Crown minister, to consent to projects on Indigenous held land that is equivalent to freehold. These amendments which the government opposes would reverse this position so that the state Crown ministers would have a consent right—effectively a veto—on any projects on Indigenous held land that is equivalent to freehold.