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

I think it is fair to say that the McGlade decision changed the playing field and put at legal risk ILUAs in which native title claimants and, indeed, all parties to the ILUAs have proceeded on the basis that they were on a sound legal footing. As a result of McGlade, some of them were put at risk for reasons that you understand. Therefore, the government's immediate focus, urged by, in particular, the native title claimants, was to restore certainty following the McGlade decision. That is the narrow, surgical focus of this bill. A broader review of provisions of the Native Title Act may very well be desirable but is the work of another day.