Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I will take the detail of that on notice. But I can tell you that the consultation process undertaken has not been one-sided. It has involved all the different groups that have an interest in the native title system. There has been public consultation on an options paper for native title reform that went from November 2017 through to February 2018. There was a second stage of public consultation—again, open to anybody—on exposure draft legislation from October to December of 2018. Then meetings were held with key stakeholders across the country and over 80 submissions were received on both the options paper and the exposure draft legislation. Then an expert technical advisory group was convened by the government and it comprised nominees from the National Native Title Council, the National Native Title Tribunal and the Federal Court of Australia. Government and industry have also provided some technical assistance through the process of developing the bill, although, as I understand it, they weren't a part of the expert technical advisory group.

In March 2018, the government also held a round table with members of the National Native Title Council and other native title corporations and representative bodies to discuss the reforms. So, to the extent that you, Senator Thorpe, are concerned about the quality of the consultation process with all of those groups that are interested in the native title system, it has been multi-staged, it has been public so that anybody can participate and it has been supplemented by the expertise of people who know the technical effect of the matters that were the subject of those submissions. As to the detail of precise names, I'll take that on notice.