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

Perhaps the minister could not continue to interrupt across the chamber so that I cannot hear myself. Native title claimants should have a longer opportunity to comment on the ramifications of the amendments that the government want to rush through this place—because that is what they want to do, without considering what those ramifications are.

I know that there are some concerns about the amendment that was raised yesterday, or about the issues that are raised by the amendment that was raised yesterday. We need time to be able to check that information, because at the moment all we have had is a briefing on this issue. But the government do not care about that. They do not care about addressing those issues that were raised, or about allowing people to address those issues that were raised by that amendment. They want to rush this through so Adani can go ahead with their dirty coalmine that will ruin the future of the reef. It does not provide the multiple thousands of jobs that the government say it will, and that has been knocked on the head so many times. But, like they do all the time, they go ahead with their alternative facts. Don't worry about what the future actually is or the fact that it will destroy so many tourism jobs on the Great Barrier Reef! They are absolutely blind to that. They want to help their big business mates ram this through. That is what these changes are about.

If the government really cared about native title, they would have started addressing this issue when representative bodies brought it up a number of years ago—to absolute deafness from the government. They have done nothing. But all of a sudden Adani might be at risk, and now we have to rush it through here, trampling on people's ability to be consulted, not caring a jot about any other native title claimants. They care about only the mine, and they are using native title claimants to drive their argument. (Time expired)