Warren Snowdon's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2022-07-06T23:05:40+00:00
items: Suspension Of Standing And Sessional Orders | Business | House debates
items: Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
items: Northern Australia Joint Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
items: Electoral Legislation Amendment (Contingency Measures) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Exempting Disability Payments from Income Testing and Other Measures) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Privileges and Members' Interests Committee | Privilege | House debates
items: Electoral Legislation Amendment (Voter Integrity) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Northern Australia | Ministerial Statements | House debates
items: Furber, Mr Harold | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Electoral Roll | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Electoral Roll | Motions | House debates
items: Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: g27.4
items: Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021, Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Social Security Legislation Amendment (Remote Engagement Program) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: COVID-19: Northern Territory | Adjournment | House debates
items: Climate Change | Grievance Debate | House debates
items: Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Economic Empowerment) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Wavehill, Mr | Statements by Members | House debates

Suspension Of Standing And Sessional Orders | Business | House debates
type: item
description: I didn't rise, Mr Speaker.
encoded: I didn't rise, Mr Speaker.
date: 2022-02-17T12:34:00+00:00

Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
type: item
description: Firstly, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this country, the Ngunawal and Ngambri people, and the traditional owners where I live, in Mparntwe country, the Central Arrernte...
encoded: Firstly, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this country, the Ngunawal and Ngambri people, and the traditional owners where I live, in Mparntwe country, the Central Arrernte people. It's an honour and a great privilege to be here, and it always has been. Just to contextualise what I'm about to say: the Northern Territory first got representation in this parliament 100 years ago in the election of 1922, when Harold Nelson—HG—was elected as a Labor candidate into this parliament. I was first elected in 1987—that's 35 years ago—and have been in the parliament for 32 years: 12 as the member for the Northern Territory and 20 as the member for Lingiari. My good friend in my neighbouring seat is Comrade Gosling, the member for Solomon. Over that period, I have been really, really fortunate—in the context of Labor members of parliament, extremely fortunate. I've had 15 years in government, six years as a parliamentary secretary in the Hawke and Keating years, and six years as a minister in Rudd and Gillard years. But the truth of it is that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for so many others. Yes, I was fortunate enough to be given those opportunities, but it's the good people of the Northern Territory and the Indian Ocean Territories that I owe the most. They are the reason I'm here, and I want to thank them for their ongoing support and friendship. My No. 1 priority since coming to this parliament has been to advocate for and represent them in this place. Just as a reminder, Lingiari is 1.34 million square kilometres, and the Indian Ocean Territories, way off there in the Indian Ocean, are often forgotten by so many, but they have had the travails and trauma of the Tampa, children overboard and deaths at sea. My good friends in the Cocos Islands—just such a wonderful community. So it's a very dispersed electorate, from the Red Centre where I live, to the north and the Indian Ocean Territories. It has a wonderfully diverse population, although 42 per cent ar…
date: 2022-02-16T10:00:00+00:00

Northern Australia Joint Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
type: item
description: by leave—I thank Mr Entsch, as he walks out the door. While he's still here, I want to acknowledge—I want to talk about you, so get in!—that this will be the last occasion that...
encoded: by leave—I thank Mr Entsch, as he walks out the door. While he's still here, I want to acknowledge—I want to talk about you, so get in!—that this will be the last occasion that I'll get to speak to a committee report by this committee as a member of parliament. Firstly, I want to acknowledge how well the committee has worked over a number of years and the cooperation from the chair to us. I really do commend the chair for making sure that all views were included and for working collaboratively to get an agreed outcome on our inquiries. Both the member for Leichhardt and the member for Lilley have outlined some of the important aspects of the recommendations in this report, but I think it needs to be seen as a piece of work which will be ongoing. It's not something of which we can say, 'We've done the job; we've made these recommendations.' It will require us to make sure that governments and this parliament are held to account for ensuring that the recommendations in this report are, as far as possible, carried out. Most importantly, that will mean carrying on the work of this committee in inquiring into Juukan Gorge, and some of the recommendations in this report flow directly from that inquiry. In particular, recommendation 9 of this report flows, in a way, from the Juukan Gorge report, which made a number of recommendations, including something which I think is well overdue now, and that is a review of the Native Title Act to ensure that we're properly funding prescribed bodies corporate and representative bodies so that they can properly represent the interests of traditional owners and native title holders. I think there also needs to be a bit of education going on so that people understand the difference between native title, as it exists across the country in its various forms, and land rights, as they exist, in this case, in the Northern Territory, where there's an inalienable freehold title which can't be bought or sold and which gives Aboriginal people in …
date: 2022-02-08T17:28:00+00:00

Electoral Legislation Amendment (Contingency Measures) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.
encoded: I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.
date: 2021-12-01T13:02:00+00:00

Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Exempting Disability Payments from Income Testing and Other Measures) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I don't know what I do here. I'm highly embarrassed by those wonderful words, and I thank the member for Monash for that wonderful contribution. I had prepared a speech about veterans affairs,...
encoded: I don't know what I do here. I'm highly embarrassed by those wonderful words, and I thank the member for Monash for that wonderful contribution. I had prepared a speech about veterans affairs, which I probably won't use, but I just want to say to the member for Monash and other members in this place that I'm not on my own here. Right across this parliament, on both sides, from all quarters, we have people of commitment and people of character, some of whom we agree with some of the time and some of whom we disagree with all of the time, but what we can be assured of is that, by and large, their motivation is for public service and to represent their communities in the best possible way. I'm not sure whether I'll give a valedictory. I may, but I'm not quite sure how I would address the words of the member for Monash in a way that could do him justice. There was no need for you to make that contribution in the way you did, and I'm very, very grateful. Thank you. I will reflect for a moment on what it was to be Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Science and Personnel. I was given what was, I think, a great responsibility but a wonderful opportunity, an opportunity to meet and be part of a broad defence and veterans family. My father had been a serviceman and was TPI. His father and his father's brothers, five of them, went to the First World War. My father's brother went to the Second World War. My uncles went to the war. So we had a tradition of service. I was in the Citizen Military Forces, a cut-lunch soldier, for a few years. So to be given the awesome responsibility of being Minister for Veterans' Affairs was a huge privilege and a dreadfully great honour. What I found was that, by and large, when we worked across the chamber on issues which related to veterans there was very little difference in approach. Michael Ronaldson, as you'll recall, was the shadow minister for a period. It was a privilege to be part of that family and to understand t…
date: 2021-11-30T17:14:00+00:00

Privileges and Members' Interests Committee | Privilege | House debates
type: item
description: I just want to make some comments about the contribution by the chair of the Privileges Committee. I don't think it's a matter for him to fall on his sword over. I would say to him that I have...
encoded: I just want to make some comments about the contribution by the chair of the Privileges Committee. I don't think it's a matter for him to fall on his sword over. I would say to him that I have been on this committee for many years, over various iterations, going back some time, and, I have to say, the committee under the stewardship of the member for Monash has operated in a completely bipartisan way, with cooperation from everyone on the committee, with great respect for the member for Monash's leadership. I have no idea what the explanation is as to why this matter was leaked to the Guardian, but I concur with you, Member for Monash, on its inference around how the committee operates. I think it is appropriate that you raise it with the Speaker as a matter of privilege. I would ask you most sincerely to reconsider your decision to tender your resignation at the next sitting of the committee. I don't have my other committee comrades from this side of the House in the chamber, but I am certain that I'm speaking on their behalf as well as on behalf of your own party members who are on that committee. Please understand that there is great respect for you in your committee role. This committee, as you rightly pointed out, is a very important committee. It has dealt with a number of very serious allegations, the most recent of which you have tabled today. Those deliberations were held collegiately and were well informed with good advice. I ask you to reconsider your decision. Understand that you have the confidence of the committee.
date: 2021-11-30T12:05:00+00:00

Electoral Legislation Amendment (Voter Integrity) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I am pleased to be able to contribute to the debate on the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Voter Integrity) Bill 2021, but I am sad that it's happening. Despite what the member for Sturt has...
encoded: I am pleased to be able to contribute to the debate on the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Voter Integrity) Bill 2021, but I am sad that it's happening. Despite what the member for Sturt has convinced himself of, there is no need for this legislation, and that is abundantly clear. I have experienced, as a candidate, 12 elections, and I've thought all along that our system of voting is fair and good. It's the best in the world, but it can be improved. But it will not be improved by discouraging people from voting, and that's precisely what this legislation will do. It will impact upon the most marginalised people in the country: people who have difficulty with language and people who may have an issue with their health. Most particularly, it will have a dramatic and negative impact on Aboriginal people who live in remote communities. Forty-two per cent or thereabouts of my electors in Lingiari are Aboriginal people. What will happen with this legislation is that an already very poor turnout of Aboriginal people will be further lowered. In June 2020, the proportion of eligible Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory on the roll was 68.7 per cent, so 31.3 per cent of Aboriginal people who were eligible to be on the roll were not. In the case of Western Australia, the figure was 67.6 per cent. At the last election, there were 42 remote polling teams covering 387 communities. There were 23,503 ordinary votes cast and 5,262 declaration votes cast. In the Northern Territory alone, for Lingiari there were 20 remote polling teams covering around 200 communities and outstations. With the combination of low voter enrolment and low turnout, it seems likely that only around 45 per cent of eligible Aboriginal people voted. These facts are very simple. What will happen as a result if this legislation were to be passed and enacted? We'd see fewer people voting. This is not just a recent phenomenon, but it goes to the whole question of what the government believes should happen…
date: 2021-11-24T19:00:00+00:00

Northern Australia | Ministerial Statements | House debates
type: item
description: I rise in response to the northern Australia ministerial statement, and I congratulate Minister Littleproud on his appointment and on providing this House with his first update as Minister for...
encoded: I rise in response to the northern Australia ministerial statement, and I congratulate Minister Littleproud on his appointment and on providing this House with his first update as Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia. Over six years on from the introduction of the white paper on developing the north, we are still waiting on the government to deliver on their promises. I note the promises which were made today. When the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government announced their northern Australia agenda in 2015, they claimed their plan would help unleash our nation's potential. That's yet to be realised. The government loves talking about potential, but the reality six years on is that the north can feel dudded, I think, by the piecemeal plans that have been put in place. Time and time again, and contrary to what the government might believe, I hear from communities across the north that they are not seeing the leadership that they want from this government. I have to say it's not surprising, though, when leadership squabbles within the coalition are at the forefront of people's minds. As much as I'm glad to see Minister Littleproud deliver his statement, the elephant in the room, of course, is that the minister only got this job after Keith, his mate, was ousted after only a year in the job during yet another National leadership spill. I sympathise with Keith. We know that the people in the bush and particularly northern Australia are the people who suffer when the Nats decide they'd rather have a go at themselves. We've also seen significant turmoil at the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, the NAIF, with the shock resignation of CEO Chris Wade. Sadly, the NAIF continues to be a sore thumb for this government, and I note the minister's comments. Labor supports the NAIF, as you well know. There is a real gap, though, in financing projects in the north which the NAIF could fill. There are clear challenges for the new board, but I do want to recognise Tra…
date: 2021-11-24T16:33:00+00:00

Furber, Mr Harold | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: Harold Furber, an important and respected Aboriginal leader, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on the afternoon of Friday 5 November in the palliative care unit at the Alice...
encoded: Harold Furber, an important and respected Aboriginal leader, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on the afternoon of Friday 5 November in the palliative care unit at the Alice Springs Hospital. He had been in the intensive care unit all week following complications stemming from long-term problems with his heart. Harold's funeral service was held in Alice Springs last Friday. Harold was the son of Emily Furber, who's deceased; father to Melanie Marron, Patricia Marron and Declan Further Gillick; and brother to Margaret Furber, Trish Kiessler and Toni Arundel. Harold's numerous family and kinship connections, of which he was most proud, stretched far and wide throughout Alice Springs and across Central Australia, the Northern Territory and beyond. He was considered an uncle, grandfather and father to many. He was widely known and respected as a deeply principled community organiser and intercultural leader. He was a proud Arrente man and a member of the stolen generations who determinedly found his way back to his family and homelands in Central Australia and committed the better part of his life to the pursuit of justice, collaboration, truth-telling and the self-determined social, economic and political development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at grassroots, local, state, national and global levels. His contributions to community organisations were numerous and widespread. He worked for many years to establish and/or contribute to the development of organisations such as the Central Land Council where I worked with Harold many years ago and where he was for a time their deputy director; Central Australian Aboriginal congress; Yipirinya School; Northern Territory Stolen Generations Corporation; and the Australian Labor Party where he was twice a candidate for the Centralian seat in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly—in 1990 in the division of Sadadeen as it was then named; and in 2001 in the division of MacDonnell, now know…
date: 2021-11-22T10:43:00+00:00

Electoral Roll | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to his attempt to suppress voting rights in Australia. Has the Prime Minister no understanding of the impact this move will have on remote...
encoded: My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to his attempt to suppress voting rights in Australia. Has the Prime Minister no understanding of the impact this move will have on remote communities across this country or does he know exactly how it will suppress the vote and this is precisely why he's doing it?
date: 2021-10-28T14:59:00+00:00

Electoral Roll | Motions | House debates
type: item
description: This is a shameful attempt to undermine the democratic rights of Australians to vote. It's a shameful, gutless attempt—
encoded: This is a shameful attempt to undermine the democratic rights of Australians to vote. It's a shameful, gutless attempt—
date: 2021-10-28T10:57:00+00:00

Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I second the amendment. Let's be very, very clear about this. This is just an exercise in voter suppression—nothing more, nothing less. It's designed to deny Australians the legitimate...
encoded: I second the amendment. Let's be very, very clear about this. This is just an exercise in voter suppression—nothing more, nothing less. It's designed to deny Australians the legitimate right to vote in our democracy. It's part of a piece. I have railed in this chamber on a number of occasions against the way in which this government has dealt with people who are trying to enrol to vote—where they were attempting to deny people the right to enrol, let alone get a vote. And what we are seeing now is a second part of that piece: 'We've denied the right to vote by not having you enrolled, and now what we want to do is make sure that, when you turn up to the voting place, you don't get to exercise your right to vote in our democracy.' That's what this is about. I'm sick to the back teeth. I've been here 33 bloody years and I've never seen anything like this. It's racist, it's discriminatory and it's all about suppression. Don't shake your head, because that's what it's about. You have no idea. I know what will happen in my electorate. People from remote communities will turn up to the polling booth to vote, if they're lucky enough to be on the roll, and be asked, 'Do you have a piece of identification?' 'No.' 'Does the person next to you have a piece of identification?' 'No.' 'Well, they can't verify your identification because they don't have their own.' This is a farce, an absolute assault on our democracy.
date: 2021-10-28T10:35:00+00:00

g27.4
type: item
title: Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Bill 2021, Offshore Electricity Infrastructure (Regulatory Levies) Bill 2021, Offshore Electricity Infrastructure (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
description: I withdraw.
encoded: I withdraw.
date: 2021-10-27T12:43:00+00:00

Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021, Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: Firstly, I acknowledge the member for Hasluck and the member for Barton for their contributions to this debate. I recognise the unique perspectives they bring as Aboriginal people and as people...
encoded: Firstly, I acknowledge the member for Hasluck and the member for Barton for their contributions to this debate. I recognise the unique perspectives they bring as Aboriginal people and as people who have been impacted by the stolen generations themselves. My first real interaction with members of the stolen generation was four decades ago. I recall attending a conference, in 1992, at Kormilda College in Darwin of stolen generations members. These were people who wanted justice, and they wanted an understanding of their plight and their suffering and their hurt. Then we saw the then Labor government institute the 'bringing them home' inquiry and we saw its report to the parliament in 1997, where it made 54 recommendations. A key recommendation was reparations. It wanted an acknowledgement and an apology from the parliament, which, of course, took 10 years to come about; guarantees against repetition; restitution and rehabilitation; and monetary compensation. Sadly, though, the then Prime Minister, John Howard—as the member for Barton pointed out in her contribution—steadfastly refused an apology or to recognise the importance of restitution. That was sad then and, on reflection, it's sadder now, because that was an opportunity not to deal with this issue once and for all but certainly to address the needs which were identified by the Bringing them home report and which have taken so long to properly address. It's not my intention to go through the details of the legislation; others have properly done that. I do want to talk, though, about the stolen generations. The removal of children from their families was an almost century-long practice by governments across Australia, and we know it created trauma that has transcended generations and instigated intergenerational trauma. The separation of families and the destruction of communities on a systematic scale can't simply be forgotten. The fear and pain remain, not only with members of the stolen generations but with th…
date: 2021-10-26T19:03:00+00:00

Social Security Legislation Amendment (Remote Engagement Program) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Remote Engagement Program) Bill 2021 and the amendment moved by the member for Barton. I say to the member for O'Connor, who just...
encoded: I rise to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Remote Engagement Program) Bill 2021 and the amendment moved by the member for Barton. I say to the member for O'Connor, who just spoke: I've met Mac Jensen at Wiluna, and you're right. He's a person with a great deal of drive and commitment, and he does an outstanding job. He is someone who has done his bit, if I might put it that way. I won't make any other observations about the member for O'Connor's speech. I just want to talk about this bill. It would have been helpful if the member for O'Connor had done that. This bill, in my view, is an absolute acknowledgement of the failure of the government's Community Development Program. What an absolute disaster it was when the old CDEP scheme, the Community Development Employment Program, was abolished by the Howard government. The stupidity of the abolition of the CDEP scheme was acknowledged by subsequent Prime Minister Tony Abbott when he said, 'Abolishing CDEP was a well-intentioned mistake, and CDP is our attempt to atone for it.' What a miserable observation, frankly. The CDEP scheme should never have been abolished. I might say that I'm somewhat ashamed that the former Labor government, subsequent to the Howard government, continued with the process to abolish the CDEP scheme by putting a sunset clause in place. I opposed that. I worked on a report on the initial CDEP scheme in 1979 and 1980 in the Pitjantjatjara homelands area of the north-west of South Australia and into the Ngaanyatjarra of Western Australia. I saw an observation only a day or so ago by people saying that getting rid of the CDP is in part to stop people getting sit-down money. Let me make it very clear. CDP is a welfare program. CDEP was a work program. It's worth contemplating that CDEP was part-time work for part-time pay at award-equivalent wages. There were deficiencies—superannuation wasn't paid and sick leave and long service leave weren't given. They were absolute deficiencie…
date: 2021-10-26T12:54:00+00:00

COVID-19: Northern Territory | Adjournment | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to again highlight the imperative and urgency for the people in the Northern Territory to get vaccinated against COVID. It's acutely important for people living in remote communities,...
encoded: I rise to again highlight the imperative and urgency for the people in the Northern Territory to get vaccinated against COVID. It's acutely important for people living in remote communities, where the general health of the population may make them particularly vulnerable and susceptible to COVID. Currently, there are no cases of COVID in the Northern Territory, and there have been no deaths to date. But, sadly, it is inevitable that COVID will penetrate the Territory's borders with the implementation of the national plan—much vaunted by the Prime Minister and others—and there will be subsequent pressure on the Northern Territory government to facilitate travel from parts of Australia where COVID is now endemic. The NT government has done a great job in protecting the Territory from COVID thus far. As a result, apart from short lockdowns, the Territory population has had freedom that only existed in New South Wales and Victoria prior to COVID beginning in the first place. We have been dreadfully lucky. There has been great cooperation between the Northern Territory government, remote communities, the Aboriginal community controlled health services and the private Medicare organisations to try and promote COVID vaccinations across the Territory. At the moment the Northern Territory's overall vaccination rate is 81 per cent for the first dose and 70 per cent for the second dose. In the Northern Territory government clinics, it's 69 per cent first dose and 56 per cent second dose. However, there are some areas where the take-up is very poor. There are pockets of resistance. People are opposed to getting vaccinated, and it's not just about vaccine hesitancy. They've been told lies, and they believe the lies that have been peddled by those with extreme views, including faith based groups talking of the devil and saying that you're going to inject yourself with 5G or that you will die. These lies are a threat to the health of the whole community. They are wrong and they ar…
date: 2021-10-20T19:50:00+00:00

Climate Change | Grievance Debate | House debates
type: item
description: You look as if you own that position, Deputy Speaker Freelander! Onto serious matters—not that you're not serious. Here we are, two weeks away from Glasgow, a great and very important...
encoded: You look as if you own that position, Deputy Speaker Freelander! Onto serious matters—not that you're not serious. Here we are, two weeks away from Glasgow, a great and very important climate change conference, and we're in disarray about whether or not we've got an emissions target of zero by 2050. This is largely due to disarray within the coalition, and mostly because of the pig-headedness of some in the National Party. As a party to the Paris Agreement, we're meant to be going to Glasgow with concrete improvements to our emissions reduction schedule. I've not heard one word from the government about what that might look like. Indeed, we should be going to talk about our 2030 pledge of 26 to 28 per cent, which we'll meet walking in our sleep. Instead of reviewing that and giving us a greater pledge for 2030, we're hearing nothing from the government in that regard. We'll get to hear about a target of 2050, I am imagining. We'll have some people from the National Party continuing to bleat about regional Australia when in fact there are many in regional Australia who want this debate over and done with. They understand its implications. Every state and territory, most of our major businesses, the National Farmers Federation, the Business Council of Australia, the Minerals Council, APPEA—all of these groups are now committed to zero emissions by 2050. They want a way forward and they understand the importance to their industries of climate change and doing something effective. We all know that net zero is not just an environmental imperative but an investment framework to guide decisions by business and policy from governments. As I said, every state and territory has an emissions target of zero by 2050. This government can't bring itself to show the leadership that's required to show us what that pathway might look like. It's not surprising in that context that the world is wondering what we're up to. For the world, the next decade will determine whether warming ca…
date: 2021-10-19T17:46:00+00:00

Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Economic Empowerment) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: It gives me great pleasure to be able to make a contribution to this debate on the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Economic Empowerment) Bill 2021. I should not so much...
encoded: It gives me great pleasure to be able to make a contribution to this debate on the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Economic Empowerment) Bill 2021. I should not so much express a conflict but make a declaration. Prior to entering this federal parliament my job was as a policy adviser to the Central Land Council. I just want to make that declaration. I will also dob in my colleague the shadow Attorney-General, because he was a lawyer—and I'm not sure if he has improved—with the Northern Land Council in Darwin. He's acquired additional information over that time. I think it's worth at the outset reflecting on some comments in the Bills Digest. It refers to page 2 of the explanatory memorandum, which states: Amendments to the Land Rights Act are not common. Aboriginal stakeholders in the NT have strong voices through their Land Councils (the NLC, CLC, ALC and TLC)— the Northern Land Council, the Central Land Council, the Anindilyakwa Land Council and the Tiwi Land Council— and the Commonwealth has committed to only amend the Land Rights Act with their support. That's only a reasonably new development, because this act, as the Bills Digest reminds us, has been amended many times—often just to add land claims, which may require parliamentary action—with the widespread support of the land councils and traditional owners and frequently it has been amended—for more fundamental amendments—against the wishes of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. The Bills Digest says that on many occasions it has been amended in ways in which the land councils have not supported t indicates, in an accurate depiction of these amendments, that key features of the bill are best understood as rollbacks of or compromises over past amendments, to which the land councils objected over time. The previous speaker outlined the detail of the act in relation to the development of the Northern Territory Aboriginal Investment Corporation, an Aboriginal controlled corporate-…
date: 2021-10-18T12:37:00+00:00

Northern Australia Joint Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
type: item
description: by leave—I firstly acknowledge the traditional owners of this country and the country of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people right around this country, their elders past and...
encoded: by leave—I firstly acknowledge the traditional owners of this country and the country of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people right around this country, their elders past and present and those who are emerging. I want to thank and acknowledge the member for Leichhardt for his contribution, which was well thought through, and for his role in leading this committee inquiry. I'll make further comments about that towards the end of my contribution. I want to speak to this report, A way forward, the final report on the destruction of the Juukan caves by Rio Tinto. As the member for Leichhardt said, the committee also published an interim report, Never again, which made a number of significant recommendations and addressed the immediate anger and concern about the destruction of the caves and the processes leading up to it. The destruction of these 46,000-plus-year-old caves underlines the ongoing impact of dispossession and alienation of Aboriginal people across this country, legitimised and enacted by legislatures across state, territory and Commonwealth jurisdictions since Federation. As a result, Aboriginal land was seen as fair game by miners, pastoralists and the like, whose actions in exploiting the traditional lands of the First Australians, including the destruction of sites, were legitimised and encouraged. It wasn't until the seventies, with the Woodward royal commission and the passage of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, that the rights and interests of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory—but nowhere else—were given part-recognition and limited protection. At a national level, it wasn't until the passage of the Native Title Act in 1993, following the victory of Eddie Mabo in the High Court—which consigned the notion of terra nullius to the dustbin of history, where it should have been in the first place—that the nation was compelled to at last deal with and address the rights and interests of people who claim native tit…
date: 2021-10-18T12:16:00+00:00

Wavehill, Mr | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: [by video link] Today I pay tribute to my old friend Mr Wavehill, an extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life. He recently passed at his home in Kalkarindji surrounded by his family, two...
encoded: [by video link] Today I pay tribute to my old friend Mr Wavehill, an extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life. He recently passed at his home in Kalkarindji surrounded by his family, two days after the 55th anniversary of the historic Wave Hill walk-off. He was born at Low Level in Katherine in the bush to his Mudburra parents, Mini and Left-handed Charlie. Born into cattle, he grew up on stations. He got his first job in Delamere, where he worked for nine years. He then went on to work in many other stations in the region before ending up at Wave Hill. There he met and married the love of his life, Biddy, and they went on to have 10 children. He was a young stockman when he took part in the Wave Hill walk-off. He was there at Wattie Creek when Gough Whitlam symbolically poured the soil into the hand of Vincent Lingiari, giving him back country. Mr Wavehill was an important and strong voice for land rights and protecting country. He was passionate about his family, his community and his culture. He was an active member of the Central Land Council for many years. He was an artist. He loved passing on his knowledge to the rest of us, and it made him so very happy. He had a great smile. He was someone I knew very well. He was a man of stature, grace and humour. He was a gentleman. He was special, one of a kind. His passing is a devastating loss for his family and community. I extend my condolences to his wife, Biddy, extended family and friends. Goodbye, my old friend. Rest in peace.
date: 2021-09-02T13:35:00+00:00