Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

This report is also from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mr Tom Calma. It deals specifically with the area of native title. I might say that there is some positive material in here—unlike the social justice report, which I think, in a very brief summary, you would have to say is quite critical of a lot of things in regard to government. This report certainly has some criticisms in it, particularly criticisms about the ability of traditional owners and potential claimants to properly engage with the native title law and native title processes not just in terms of claims but also, perhaps more significantly, in regard to using a stake in native title to develop effective, meaningful, positive Indigenous land use agreements. The fact is that there are positive Indigenous land use agreements around the country. There are some negative ones as well. It does show that native title can deliver positive outcomes not just for Indigenous people but also for the entire community. To me, that is one of the key messages of this report. It emphasises once again that native title is not just an issue for Indigenous Australians; it is actually a pathway for a more complete and unified nation of Australia—a properly reconciled one.

I note that within the report there is the recommendation that the Australian government support a range of land leasing options on communal land, including options where leases are held by traditional owners through their elected entities for varying periods of time. Another recommendation is that the community homes program be extended to communities with alternative lease schemes. We have heard a lot of talk about leases and whether or not they can be used for private home ownership. It is interesting that the report does not dismiss some of the principles behind that. What it is critical of is the mechanism for reaching that goal that the federal government has chosen.

The report has a chapter on the Yarrabah Housing Project. Yarrabah is a community which I have visited a number of times in Far North Queensland. It is about three-quarters of an hour south of Cairns in a beautiful coastal area around the back of some mountains on the edge of the wet tropics World Heritage area. This report details the housing project that is being acted on in Yarrabah. It is actually quite positive about this housing project. Indeed, as the report says, there are some distinct parallels to the Australian government’s own initiative to individualise tenures on Indigenous communal lands and encourage home ownership.

But as the report says, while there are similarities in the intention of the government to the Yarrabah initiatives, there are marked differences in their management and governance structures. Yarrabah provides an alternative to the Australian government model, providing an example of a community wanting to locally manage the development of the township whilst stimulating local economic growth. The Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council is proposing to hold a 99-year headlease over the Yarrabah township in trust for the Indigenous landowners, whilst managing 99-year subleases for Yarrabah residents and businesses and also managing a housing construction project through its own construction company. This will employ, train and develop a local Indigenous workforce to build and maintain residential housing in Yarrabah.

The commissioner gives a positive outlining of this because the council is approaching the project in close collaboration with the community and, whatever else the pros and cons would say about the approach the federal government has taken with 99-year leases in the Northern Territory, close collaboration has not been part of the process—certainly not at least until quite recently, and, even then, that is arguable. It goes back to that key recommendation from the social justice report that I was talking to just before: meaningful, principled engagement with Indigenous people, enabling local traditional owners to continue control, or in regards to Yarrabah, the Aboriginal Shire Council. So it is the mechanism, it is the process, it is ensuring the engagement with people locally as much as possible, and ensuring these people maintain control and they maintain engagement. As a senator for Queensland, that is a model I will be watching closely. There is plenty more in this report that needs examination, but my time is about to expire again so I will seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.