George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot immediately tell you the date on which the Prime Minister visited India, but the consultation with the native title holders occurred on 27 April. Prior to that, though, within a matter of days of the McGlade decision being delivered—that is, not later than the second week of February this year—Senator Scullion and I met with Mr Kelly, the CEO of the National Native Title Council, the peak body that speaks for all native title groups, and he, at that meeting, urged us to fix the problem, or words to the effect of, 'Fix the problem caused by the McGlade decision,' and to ask the parliament to do so urgently, and we did. The purpose of the consultation meeting on 27 April was merely to share the government's proposed bill with the native title claimant groups to ensure they were happy with the manner of the solution to it. They made some helpful suggestions at the margins, which we have adopted and they are embodied in the government amendments before the chamber today. But the request, on behalf of the native title claimant groups, that the problem presented by the McGlade decision be fixed, came as early as the first meeting Senator Scullion and I had with Mr Kelly in early February of this year.