Senate debates

Wednesday, 28 November 2018

Bills

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund Bill 2018, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2018; Second Reading

10:11 am

Photo of Rachel SiewertRachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund Bill 2018 and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2018. As previously stated, the Indigenous Land Corporation was established in 1995 following the Mabo High Court decision and assists First Nations peoples to acquire and manage land for the benefit of First Nations peoples. Funding to achieve this comes from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Account, to be referred to as the land account, in the form of an annual CPI-indexed payment to the Indigenous Land Corporation. Currently, an additional automatic payment is also made from the land account to the Indigenous Land Corporation when the capital of the land account exceeds a CPI-indexed target.

Due to the restrictions on the investment mandate of the land account to cash and cash-like products, it is not generating sufficient investment returns to ensure the financial sustainability of the Indigenous Land Corporation into the future. In the previous four financial years, the land account has not met its target rate of return. The Murray panel, which, in 2016, was tasked with providing advice on options to ensure the sustainability of the land account, recommended the Future Fund Board of Guardians invest the funds of the land account. In the previous parliament the Greens had a bill to make amendments to the Indigenous Land Corporation act. As part of the inquiry into our proposed reforms, this very issue of the investments of the land account was brought up. One of the recommendations made during that inquiry—even though it was not part of my bill—was that the land account should be managed in an alternative way. Suggestions were made around incorporating the Future Fund. At the time, those suggestions were not taken up by government, so it is pleasing to see that action has now been taken. It was in fact pleasing to see that the Murray review was undertaken.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund Bill 2018 establishes the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund, to be referred to as the Land and Sea Future Fund. It is an investment fund that will replace the land account, but will serve the same purpose—namely, to fund the activities of what is now the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation. The Future Fund Board of Guardians will oversee the investment of the Land and Sea Future Fund, in line with a recommendation of the Murray panel.

The consultation I mentioned during debate on the previous bill regarding the expansion of the Indigenous Land Corporation's remit also measured support for improving the sustainability of the land account by transferring the investment function of the land account to the Future Fund Board of Guardians and by broadening the range of financial assets that the funds could be invested in. Again a majority of those consulted supported this reform. The intention is for the Land and Sea Future Fund to have a broader investment mandate that should see more sustainable returns produced and see annual payments to the Indigenous Land Corporation continue without the current concern of slowly depleting the land account. The Land and Sea Future Fund will receive the money and financial assets of the land account.

The bill requires that an annual indexed payment be made to the Indigenous Land Corporation as is currently the case. The bill also provides for one discretionary additional payment per financial year if determined by the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Indigenous Affairs after considering the advice of the Future Fund Board of Guardians regarding the impact this payment will have on the sustainability of annual payments to the Indigenous Land Corporation. The investment mandate will be set by the Minister for Finance and the Treasurer in consultation with the Minister for Indigenous Affairs.

The Australian Greens expressed our in-principle support for the bill during the inquiry. However, in our quite substantive additional comments to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee inquiry into the bill and the previous bills, we indicated that we had a number of concerns. One of the concerns we raised was in relation to reporting requirements. We said:

There needs to be certainty that reports will be available at regular intervals that illustrate the performance of the ATSILSFF, rather than reliance placed on the Minister for Finance to request such reports.

Our concerns regarding this have been alleviated by the knowledge that the Future Fund Board of Guardians is required to report each quarter to the Minister for Finance on the performance outcomes of the funds they are managing and that these reports are published on the Future Fund's website. We have also become aware that, following the 10-year review of the legislation, there is no requirement that the review be made public or tabled in parliament. I hope the government can address this and make some commitments around that.

We are pleased to see that a number of amendments were made in the House of Representatives to strengthen the bill further. We are pleased to see that sustainability of the annual payments from the Land and Sea Future Fund to the Indigenous Land Corporation has been further highlighted as a key concept through the requirement that this sustainability be taken into account when the investment mandate is being set and when a determination is being made regarding a discretionary additional payment to the Indigenous Land Corporation. It is also appropriate that the Indigenous Land Corporation Board be consulted on the setting of the investment mandate and that they are able to meet with Commonwealth officials regarding a quarterly performance report relating to the Land and Sea Future Fund.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2018 makes consequential amendments to other acts that are affected by the establishment of the Land and Sea Future Fund. This includes repealing the sections of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005 that create the land account and amending the legislation governing the Future Fund and other funds managed by the Future Fund Management Agency. It also includes minor technical amendments relating to the renaming of the Indigenous Land Corporation to the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, contingent on the passage of the previous legislation. The Greens thank the minister for the additional information that was provided by him and his office. We are pleased to see amendments and we will be supporting these bills.

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