Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am sorry; I should not address Senator Farrell directly, Madam Acting Deputy President. I accept that. But I think it was shortly after Senator Farrell ran for the seat of Adelaide. Michael Pratt, I believe, was the successful person at that time—another betrayal, I would suggest, Senator Farrell.

The existing access arrangements are administered under the Defence Force Regulations 1952. As drafted, the bill applies to 'new users' seeking access to the Woomera Prohibited Area. New users are users that would not have access permission under the Defence Force Regulations 1952 at the time the bill came into force. Those who do have existing access permission under the Defence Force Regulations 1952 are referred to as existing users. I think that is important to clarify. The existing users include pastoralists, Indigenous groups, the Tarcoola-Darwin railway owner and operators, and the four existing mines. These users will continue to access the Woomera Prohibited Area under their existing arrangements that include leases, deeds and other permissions provided under the Defence Force Regulations 1952.

I will point out that Indigenous groups and the railway owner and operators have both raised concerns about their existing arrangements during consultation on the bill. I am not sure whether Senator Farrell and his team have consulted with the railway owner and operators and the Indigenous groups. I suspect not, given the Labor Party's track record of not consulting, apart from within their own circle of supporters. Consultation does not mean turning to Senator Stephen Conroy and saying, 'Shall we spend $96 billion on a national broadband network?' It actually goes to having a cost benefit analysis; it is about talking to the important stakeholders, not just to those who are going to be an echo chamber of your own view.

Defence have not always been renowned for consulting as widely as perhaps some would like. But they are continuing to work closely with all existing users in an attempt to respond to their concerns, which mainly consist of clarifying longstanding existing relationships. Those on this side of the chamber recognise that existing relationships and longstanding practices are not always codified. They are not always enshrined in legislation, and they have evolved through tradition and through understanding. I think that is the essence of developing and progressing society. In those circumstances, you have got to be very, very mindful of existing practices that are perhaps non-codified or, even if they are codified, of some of the leniency around them. I am sure—I feel confident—that those sorts of things have not been considered by Senator Farrell and the Labor Party in putting forward their version of this initiative. As I said, Defence are continuing to work closely with existing users and are responding to their concerns. It is about access arrangements and permissions with Defence. It is worth noting that new users have not been prevented from accessing the Woomera Prohibited Area. As of 24 January 2014, there have been 32 exploration deeds, four mining deeds, one petroleum deed, four extractive minerals deeds and one communication tower deed, and 1,836 personnel have been authorised to access the Woomera Prohibited Area.

All of these deeds, exploration agreements, communication towers and personnel are very important to the economic future of South Australia. This area is very prospective for minerals, and I am sure it would be in the spirit of bipartisanship to say that we need to develop South Australia's mining industry. I think there is enormous potential there for growth to generate additional gross state product. I think we know how crestfallen South Australian voters were at the decision by BHP Billiton not to proceed with the expansion of Olympic Dam. Having said that, there are many smaller explorers and smaller mining organisations that would be happy to invest in finding another potential Olympic Dam-sized deposit and would be seeking further mineral discoveries that could profoundly change the economic future of South Australia. If you need any reference point, you can refer to Western Australia and what the brave pioneers did there in exploration—and continue to do, might I say—with enormous success, opening up new areas and new fields, finding mineral deposits, developing them into mines, generating billions of dollars' worth of sales and export revenue for South Australia and creating tens or hundreds of thousands of jobs. I would love to see that taking place in South Australia and ensuring—