Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Not being a native title lawyer, I would want to make that acknowledgement, but knowing a fair bit about a number of determinations I have say that actual contact now today—because many peoples, as you would know, particularly in the context of Northern Australia move between homelands and other places—between homelands as a consequence of most of these processes in Northern Australia is very clear. I guess that when native title comes into play it is usually in places where there has been a fair bit of displacement over a very long period of time, and those aspects are harder to tell.

I have had a conversation with a couple of people who know more about this. I said, 'Is there any legitimacy to this process—that somehow, because you are moving them off country, this is somehow going to be a more difficult deal?' They certainly did not seem to have the same opinion as the lawyer that you quoted.