Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We finally have it on the record that what this is about is railroading this Native Title Amendment (Indigenous Land Use Agreements) Bill 2017 through so the government can support their Adani mates. That is what this is about. They have finally come out and said really clearly, 'We want this rushed through so we can ram through the Adani mine.' That is what it is about. Senator Canavan has just said, 'Yes, we should be supporting the claimants,' when he knows very well there is a court case going on about this right now. So there are a whole lot of native title claimants that do not support that decision. That is what the court case is about. This government is trying to ram this bill through so it can support its mates in getting their dirty coalmine up and running. It is not about any native title claimants; it is about that mine. If the government were really concerned about native title, they would ensure there was enough time to debate this bill, to have a proper look at it so that all native title claimants around Australia could actually participate in this debate.

Yesterday, we got delivered to us yet another amendment to this bill which actually raises very, very significant issues around some of the agreements on Cape York—very significant issues around those claims. That was just put on the table for us yesterday. What the government wants to do is rush this through without us being able to properly interrogate those very significant issues that are raised and without giving native title claimants the ability to participate. And it is not just current native title claimants that have a role in consultations here; every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person needs to be engaged in this discussion about the future of native title.

The Greens have been very clear that we do not want to rush this bill through, because it has very significant ramifications for so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We have been very clear about that. We have been very clear—and I was clear yesterday in my second reading contribution on this—that we are aware of the significant issues that the McGlade case raises. There is absolutely no doubt about that. But the amendment that was brought in yesterday raises a whole heap of new issues. I thank the Attorney-General for ensuring that we got a briefing yesterday morning on this; I do acknowledge that. But, for me, it raises a whole lot of issues, and I have had an opportunity to again discuss some of these issues very quickly since that time with stakeholders. I met with some native title claimants and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have a view on this, and they are very concerned that this bill may be rushed through this place. The government is not listening to that broader number of groups. We will.