Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to say a few words in talking to the motion before the chair to note this particular report. This was a report in which the committee members looked into the issues with some care and dedication and I think the report is well worth reading and in fact adopting where appropriate recommendations are made. But I want to mention an issue that came up in this report, although there was a separate committee looking at this other issue at the same time as this particular committee was in Cape York. It was mentioned in relation to this committee, and it is the Wild Rivers legislation of the Queensland government.

To recapitulate very briefly, the Queensland Labor government has introduced the so-called Wild Rivers legislation, I always say, which effectively curtails activity in wild rivers areas. I know that the Queensland ministers have said, ‘Oh, it does not really curtail investment in these areas,’ but the evidence before both this and the other committee that I referred to clearly showed that some Indigenous people were indeed led to a conclusion that their rights to their land would be impacted upon. When someone said, ‘You can always apply for permission and consent,’ the response of one of the witnesses was, ‘Well, who is going to pay for it? We don’t have the money to engage teams of lawyers and accountants to go through and try and get some permission under the Wild Rivers legislation.’

As a result of that, Mr Abbott, in the other place, and Senator Scullion, here, have moved a bill that was in fact passed by the Senate prior to the election and which sought to overturn the Queensland legislation insofar as certain aspects of the Wild Rivers legislation were concerned. What Mr Abbott’s bill does, in short—and I paraphrase—is it says that you cannot declare a wild river in this area without the permission of the traditional owners. A lot of misconception and untruthfulness is being promoted about what Mr Abbott’s bill actually says, but that is the guts of Mr Abbott’s bill—that you cannot have a wild rivers regime in these areas unless the traditional owners agree.

Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Macdonald, I need to interrupt you for a moment. We are taking note here of the final report of the Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities, which did not actually report into the Wild Rivers situation or the legislation, so I just want you to be mindful that we are taking note of the actual report of that committee and the contents of that report.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you. You might notice that in my earlier remarks I indicated that there was a separate committee meeting in Cape York at the time this committee was in Cape York. Indeed, Senator Barnett was there, amongst others. I think you were also there, Madam Acting Deputy President Crossin. But certainly Wild Rivers was mentioned in the hearings of this particular committee, of which I am discussing the report. I am very conscious and thank you for your advice, but I was aware of that and I am being very careful to relate it to this particular report.

As I was saying, there is a lot of misunderstanding—some of it deliberately promoted—about what Mr Abbott’s bill might do. It is all relevant to regional and remote Indigenous communities and their ability to do things on their land which will give them an economic future and which will provide employment for their people. Mr Abbott’s bill says, ‘Yes, if you want a Wild Rivers regime, that’s fine; but you can’t do it unless the traditional owners agree.’ And who could argue with that? That is all by way of background and in the context of the Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities Select Committee report. But just this week the Queensland government has sought to extend that Wild Rivers legislation to take in not just rivers in Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria but those right down into western Queensland. The rivers running into Lake Eyre are now also going to be subjected to this Wild Rivers legislation, which will perhaps not impact so heavily on Indigenous people in the west—although some will be impacted upon—but on other landowners in that area, who will find that their enjoyment and use of their land is to be further curtailed. It will, in fact, impact upon remote Indigenous communities as well.

What concerns me is that in Queensland we have been going through a water reform process. It has been going on for four or five years, from memory, and all of these issues were looked into. Those water resources plans give the government and appropriate authorities the necessary power to properly manage land in those areas. Why, then, do you need this draconian, sledgehammer Wild Rivers legislation coming in over the top of it? The water resource management plans that are in place are sufficient to properly manage in a sustainable way the water resources in those rivers.

So it is probably timely to mention that. I will not take it much further at this stage except to again compliment the select committee on the work it did in relation to regional and remote Indigenous communities. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.