Stirling Griff (SA, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I inform the chamber that Senator Wong is also sponsoring this motion. I, and also on behalf of Senator Wong, move:

That the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) it has been over 25 years since the decision of Mabo v Queensland (No2), and almost 18 years since the Kaurna Nation first lodged the Native Title claim in the Federal Court,

(ii) on 21 March 2018, Justice Mortimer, of the Federal Court, granted native title rights over metropolitan Adelaide and Adelaide Hills to the Kaurna people,

(iii) the judgment officially recognises the Kaurna people as the traditional owners of the Adelaide Plains, and

(iv) this is the first time that a Native Title Agreement that covers an Australian capital city has been accepted by the Federal Court;

(b) further notes that the Deputy Premier of South Australia, the Honourable Vickie Chapman, has stated that the South Australian Liberal Government will ensure that the Indigenous Land Use Agreement, formalising the Federal Court's landmark decision, is finalised within six months; and

(c) acknowledges:

(i) the strength and depth of the relationship of Indigenous Australians with their land,

(ii) that the Australian Human Rights Commission describes Native Title as "a relationship to land which is the very foundation of Indigenous religion, culture and well-being", and

(iii) that the non-discriminatory protection of Native Title is a recognised human right protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. (general business notice of motion no. 766)

Question agreed to.