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

I appreciate the remarks from Senator Crossin, but the provisions that the Greens have put forward in this amendment are actually derived from the consultation guidelines presented to the Senate committee by the Australian Human Rights Council. We did not dream them up by ourselves; they came from the Human Rights Council. I note that the criticisms that were made in that evidence were, as Senator Ludlam has said, meeting schedules that people could not attend, inadequate notice, comments misreported, no follow-up and materials not translated into local language. So I ask the minister in particular: does he concede that the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commissioner was correct when he pointed out, in regard to consultation, problems with the process? He said:

… as the commissioner in the Northern Territory I have been told by many Aboriginal Territorians impacted by the Commonwealth intervention of their disappointment at federal consultations. In particular there were concerns that only a few were spoken to, that the duration of visits was too short and that some Aboriginal Territorians could not participate because of language, dialect or hearing impairments.

Do you accept the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commissioner's criticism of the consultation?