Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A very well-humoured presentation by Senator Simms. Some of the issues contained in his contribution are very important and significant and deserve constant attention by this place.

I rise today to address what is a key economic issue for Northern Australia, especially for Indigenous communities in my home state of Western Australia. During some of my recent visits to communities in the Kimberley and other parts of Western Australia, I have encountered a great deal of enthusiasm and a plethora of ideas about how we can make our North better. I think this is built on a genuine sense that, at long last, we are moving from the phase where we talked about the potential of Northern Australia—and that has gone on for many decades—to an era in which some practical steps are being taken, especially with regard to on infrastructure development.

This coalition government has made infrastructure development in Northern Australia a key priority, as evidenced in this year's budget, which established the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to help construct the ports, power plants, dams and the like which are needed to drive development. But we also understand that government cannot do everything. We will need to drive investment from the private sector and establish a legal and regulatory framework that will help communities to chart their own destinies.

Development of the North will require that governments at all levels create an investment environment that will attract the significant capital essential for new and exciting ventures across Australia's far north. That means getting the balance right between removing red tape, revisiting the balance between conservation and exploration and being more open in our attitude towards the origin of commercial investment in our agricultural industries. As prominent investment banker David Williams has noted, new investment sources will:

… breathe new life into assets that have been under-utilised for a long time; they're going to create enormous employment; and they're going to enhance our culture by being here.

Another critical challenge will require the courage from government to address the longstanding issue of land tenure reform. For decades, land tenure has been absent from policy discussion, but now there is reason for new hope. Recent initiatives, including the coalition government's White paper on developing Northern Australia and the WA state government's Water for Food initiative, have canvassed the issue of land tenure reform and are providing the basis for fresh policy approaches that establish a more investor friendly form of tenure.

These initiatives are also seeing land tenure reform become the primary focus for many native title representative bodies who are taking greater control of the land tenure process as it applies to their own determination areas, strengthening communities throughout the Kimberley and creating sustainable jobs and training opportunities for Aboriginal workers now and into the future. The flagship Mowanjum irrigation trial near Derby—located on the Mowanjum Aboriginal Corporation's pastoral lease—is an early and very encouraging example of this. Once completed, the project will provide vocational training opportunities for Derby High School students and assist the Mowanjum to negotiate approvals for a more flexible form of tenure that will attract third-party investment. The signing of an Aboriginal development package agreement between the traditional owners in the Kimberley Ord irrigation scheme and Ord River developer Kimberley Agricultural Investment, or KAI, has now led to the Miriuwung Gajerrong corporation calling on the WA state government to offer freehold land at the 6,000-hectare Knox Plain site, saying its viability is uncertain due to land tenure issues in the agricultural zone. The Fitzroy Valley investigation project will, for the first time, confirm the groundwater capability of the Fitzroy Valley and increase confidence amongst pastoral station owners wanting to diversify their operations from traditional grazing practices mandated under legislation. The Knowsley Agricultural Area water investigation will define sustainable water supply options for future cropping programs outside of Derby, creating a new industry out of traditional grazing country for local communities.

Of course, we cannot ignore that aspirations for greater control over land tenure are tempered by concerns about potential for extinguishment of native title and the costs associated with native title reform.

Navigating Western Australia's land tenure system is expensive and the costs associated with land tenure reform could prove prohibitive for many communities. This system is a legacy of past government policies which were focused on the 'protection' of Aboriginal people underpinned by concepts of communal management. It is a legacy which has allowed infrastructure on many remote communities to fall well below acceptable community standards. It is a legacy which has caused poor alignment between the present and future interests of Aboriginal communities, native title holders and governments.

After 22 years of operation, the existing native title framework remains complex and time consuming, best evidenced by the still significant backlog of unresolved claims acting as a handbrake on future economic prosperity. As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda himself noted, native title is 'only the starting point'. Our native title regime must place greater emphasis on unleashing economic opportunity for Indigenous communities, especially for young Indigenous people. In its current form, it is failing future generations of Indigenous people. Australia requires a streamlined approach to processing native title claims, with greater use of consent resolutions and a willingness to embrace less technical and legalistic approaches.

In an uncertain economic world, Australia's prosperity depends on its ability to innovate and diversify. With native title determinations being finalised across Western Australia, now is the time to progress the important issue of land tenure reform. We will never have a better chance to address the inadequacies and failings of the current system. Good intentions are all very well, but without land tenure reform, the development of Northern Australia risks yet again becoming a lost opportunity.

This is not the only a challenge governments have to grapple with. Indigenous Australians living in remote parts of the nation rely on a responsible approach from those entrusted with the privilege of leadership within Indigenous communities. Given the challenges faced by many in these communities—whether those be economic, family, health or educational issues—it is imperative that those entrusted with representing Indigenous communities are firmly focussed on the day-to-day issues that are of most relevant to them, to their families and to the people they represent. Which is why I was both surprised and disappointed to read an item on the ABC News website late last night. The story was headlined 'WA group represents Indigenous Australia at United Nations climate change conference'. The story explains that a delegation of five from the Kimberley Land Council will be heading to Paris, led by the council's chairman, Mr Anthony Watson, who is also the Australian delegate to the Indigenous People's Forum on Climate Change. In the article, Mr. Watson says this:

I'll be with the Pacific Islanders. They have a lot of concerns about their islands going underwater and they'll be raising their concerns and I'll be supporting them in whatever way I can.

We're hoping to see what other projects the rest of the world are doing. We want to learn more. We have projects that we do in the Kimberley with our emissions reduction system with our fire projects.

Now, we would all accept that environmental issues have had an impact on Indigenous Australians, as they have had an impact on all of us. And I could understand Mr Watson, perhaps alone, wanting to attend, as a representative, the Indigenous People's Forum on Climate Change. But a delegation of five from the one single organisation, the Kimberley Land Council, heading all the way to Paris for a conference, at a time when many communities across WA's far north are struggling with day-to-day challenges in their family lives, struggling for employment or struggling to overcome health challenges, is in my view excessive and would not pass a public test in WA's Kimberley.

If you want to learn more about what the rest of the world is doing, there are modern means of communications available to find out, even in some of Australia's most remote parts. That would be significantly cheaper than flying five people from the Kimberley Land Council to Paris for a week. I am not sure that many of those I have met living and working in Indigenous communities across the Kimberley region in WA would think this is the best allocation of their scarce resources, given the immediacy of some of the issues facing Indigenous communities.

This is the same organisation that sent representatives, Mr Watson included, to the United Nations in New York earlier this year, to lobby for a motion condemning the Western Australia state government. Again, it is a question of priorities. No one is questioning the Kimberley Land Council's right to represent its communities. However, at the very least, I would urge the Kimberley Land Council and similar organisations to think first and foremost of the circumstances of those they are supposed to represent, of those they are supposed to support and to consider whether similar outcomes could be achieved with a much-reduced spend on travel to the world's capitals. I suspect they could.