George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

The government will be opposing these Greens amendments because their effect would be to confine the bill to registered agreements. Agreements that have been authorised by the entire claim group but not yet registered would be left out if the Greens amendments were to be accepted. The government does not accept that such agreements should be excluded from the bill. The government's approach respects the choices of Australia's traditional owners; the Greens' approach does not. I remind the chamber once again that the bill in the form in which it currently stands, with the government amendments recommended by the Native Title Council and particularly the Cape York amendment, is now the bill that native title owners have asked this parliament to pass.