Mr MITCHELL - 1997-06-17
Have any exploration licences been granted since the Wik decision by the High Court in December last year?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, no exploration licences have been granted on pastoral leases since 23 September 1996, a period of almost 6 months.
Mr Toyne: That is because your mob will not sit down and talk.
Mr MANZIE: Isn't that marvellous? We will not sit down and talk with them! That simply shows that the Labor Party's approach to the issue that is before the Australian community at the moment is to spend massive amounts of taxpayers' money and to delay the whole process. For every application, the process involved would take a couple of years to conclude and would cost millions of dollars. Members opposite think that is terrific. That is what they support. They support a regime that is stopping everything, and will stop it for the next couple of years.
Members should understand that we are not talking only about exploration licences. We are talking, and this is of greater concern to me, about the fact that we have not been able to grant any mineral leases or mineral claims in that time. These are the titles that are required for mining developments. Without those titles, mining companies are unable to proceed to develop new mines because they are unable to obtain development funding or enter into agreements with partners who may be needed to support mining development. That is what the Labor Party supports. That means that there is no development of jobs and, as a result, the lifestyle of Territorians will be affected. That is what they stand for.
Mr Toyne: No, we do not.
Mr MANZIE: You may say that you do not, but your practices and your entire behaviour today have demonstrated what you stand for. While we have been trying to explain to the community the effect of native title on Territorians and their lifestyle and on their jobs, all you have done is try to prevent ministers pointing out the facts. You are starting again now. You have fought tooth and nail to try to defend these policies that are cutting jobs and are in danger of affecting the lifestyle of Territorians. You should be ashamed. You should be supporting the government in trying to achieve a process that will give equity to all Territorians regardless of the colour of their skin and of their backgrounds. Members opposite are fighting tooth and nail to maintain a process that is cutting into jobs and interfering with the lifestyle of Territorians. They were all laughing when the Minister for Primary Industry and Fisheries was explaining the effect of native title on the ability of
ordinary Territorians to go fishing.
Mr Bailey: No, we were laughing at him.
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Mr MANZIE: Big joke! I can tell the member for Wanguri that Territorians will not hack it. Territorians want a fair go for everyone. They do not want people who have a different coloured skin to be able to maintain controls that provide them with unfair advantages compared with what is available to non-Aboriginal people. They want a fair go for people. What members opposite are defending and what they are promoting is an unequal situation. When my colleagues try to explain to the community the effect that this has, all members opposite do is try to drown them out. Shame on them! I tell can tell them also that Territorians have their number. We will continue to hold up what the opposition stands for. It can make all the noise it likes in this parliament and try as hard as it wishes ...
Mr Ah Kit: You are wrong again, Daryl.
Mr MANZIE: We know the member for Arnhem leads the push. We have ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr MANZIE: The member for Wanguri is now trying to shout over me in an effort to negate what I am saying. I invite members to remember that the member for Arnhem was the one who was at Timber Creek with the land councils when they were planning their latest land grab. He was there. He spent a week ...
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr MANZIE: I guarantee the Leader of the Opposition approved his TA to enable him to claim taxpayers' money while he was there, trying to work out the last greedy land grab before the shutters came down. The community knows about it and we will make sure they remember.
I will come back to what I was talking about - the growth in jobs and the threat to our lifestyle. Since December 1996, we have been able to issue 4 exploration licences on freehold land. In addition, during that period, 13 exploration licences have been granted over Aboriginal land, as the operation of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act overrides the requirements of the Native Title Act. However, at the end of May 1997, we had 180 exploration licence applications which had not been resolved on land other than Aboriginal or freehold land. Every month, that figure rises by 30 or 40. Since the Wik decision, 114 new exploration licence applications have been received. While the situation on Aboriginal land is administratively different from that on pastoral lease land, the status of grant still leaves a great deal to be desired. Over 320 exploration licence applications are still under consideration by the land council. Some of these applications have been held up in that way for years by
the land council bureaucracy. However, the opposition supports the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. It supports processes which hold these things up and which cut into jobs and lifestyles.
In addition, 75 exploration licences have been granted on Aboriginal land. All we can do is hope that the proposed amendments to the Native Title Act will alleviate some of the uncertainty created by the Wik decision. However, change will not come about if we sit around and say how wonderful it all is and that we do not want change. What the ALP stands for is leaving things as they are, cutting out exploration, cutting out the development of new mines, cutting out jobs for our children and getting stuck into our lifestyle. We cannot have
Page 2157
Territorians going fishing in the harbour unless they pay $200 for each trip. That is what members opposite stand for, and people need to understand that. Members opposite do not have the guts to stand up and say that. All they do is make weaselly attacks. They run around the edges and say that the government could fix it all up if only it would negotiate. What they forget to say is that the government could fix it up if it spent billions of dollars of taxpayers' money and waited for many years to resolve the issues. That is what they are talking about. We have to stand up for changes to both the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and the Native Title Act. We must have those changes to enable us to continue to create jobs for Territorians, thereby ensuring that our lifestyle continues to be the best in this country.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, no exploration licences have been granted on pastoral leases since 23 September 1996, a period of almost 6 months.
Mr Toyne: That is because your mob will not sit down and talk.
Mr MANZIE: Isn't that marvellous? We will not sit down and talk with them! That simply shows that the Labor Party's approach to the issue that is before the Australian community at the moment is to spend massive amounts of taxpayers' money and to delay the whole process. For every application, the process involved would take a couple of years to conclude and would cost millions of dollars. Members opposite think that is terrific. That is what they support. They support a regime that is stopping everything, and will stop it for the next couple of years.
Members should understand that we are not talking only about exploration licences. We are talking, and this is of greater concern to me, about the fact that we have not been able to grant any mineral leases or mineral claims in that time. These are the titles that are required for mining developments. Without those titles, mining companies are unable to proceed to develop new mines because they are unable to obtain development funding or enter into agreements with partners who may be needed to support mining development. That is what the Labor Party supports. That means that there is no development of jobs and, as a result, the lifestyle of Territorians will be affected. That is what they stand for.
Mr Toyne: No, we do not.
Mr MANZIE: You may say that you do not, but your practices and your entire behaviour today have demonstrated what you stand for. While we have been trying to explain to the community the effect of native title on Territorians and their lifestyle and on their jobs, all you have done is try to prevent ministers pointing out the facts. You are starting again now. You have fought tooth and nail to try to defend these policies that are cutting jobs and are in danger of affecting the lifestyle of Territorians. You should be ashamed. You should be supporting the government in trying to achieve a process that will give equity to all Territorians regardless of the colour of their skin and of their backgrounds. Members opposite are fighting tooth and nail to maintain a process that is cutting into jobs and interfering with the lifestyle of Territorians. They were all laughing when the Minister for Primary Industry and Fisheries was explaining the effect of native title on the ability of
ordinary Territorians to go fishing.
Mr Bailey: No, we were laughing at him.
Page 2156
Mr MANZIE: Big joke! I can tell the member for Wanguri that Territorians will not hack it. Territorians want a fair go for everyone. They do not want people who have a different coloured skin to be able to maintain controls that provide them with unfair advantages compared with what is available to non-Aboriginal people. They want a fair go for people. What members opposite are defending and what they are promoting is an unequal situation. When my colleagues try to explain to the community the effect that this has, all members opposite do is try to drown them out. Shame on them! I tell can tell them also that Territorians have their number. We will continue to hold up what the opposition stands for. It can make all the noise it likes in this parliament and try as hard as it wishes ...
Mr Ah Kit: You are wrong again, Daryl.
Mr MANZIE: We know the member for Arnhem leads the push. We have ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr MANZIE: The member for Wanguri is now trying to shout over me in an effort to negate what I am saying. I invite members to remember that the member for Arnhem was the one who was at Timber Creek with the land councils when they were planning their latest land grab. He was there. He spent a week ...
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr MANZIE: I guarantee the Leader of the Opposition approved his TA to enable him to claim taxpayers' money while he was there, trying to work out the last greedy land grab before the shutters came down. The community knows about it and we will make sure they remember.
I will come back to what I was talking about - the growth in jobs and the threat to our lifestyle. Since December 1996, we have been able to issue 4 exploration licences on freehold land. In addition, during that period, 13 exploration licences have been granted over Aboriginal land, as the operation of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act overrides the requirements of the Native Title Act. However, at the end of May 1997, we had 180 exploration licence applications which had not been resolved on land other than Aboriginal or freehold land. Every month, that figure rises by 30 or 40. Since the Wik decision, 114 new exploration licence applications have been received. While the situation on Aboriginal land is administratively different from that on pastoral lease land, the status of grant still leaves a great deal to be desired. Over 320 exploration licence applications are still under consideration by the land council. Some of these applications have been held up in that way for years by
the land council bureaucracy. However, the opposition supports the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. It supports processes which hold these things up and which cut into jobs and lifestyles.
In addition, 75 exploration licences have been granted on Aboriginal land. All we can do is hope that the proposed amendments to the Native Title Act will alleviate some of the uncertainty created by the Wik decision. However, change will not come about if we sit around and say how wonderful it all is and that we do not want change. What the ALP stands for is leaving things as they are, cutting out exploration, cutting out the development of new mines, cutting out jobs for our children and getting stuck into our lifestyle. We cannot have
Page 2157
Territorians going fishing in the harbour unless they pay $200 for each trip. That is what members opposite stand for, and people need to understand that. Members opposite do not have the guts to stand up and say that. All they do is make weaselly attacks. They run around the edges and say that the government could fix it all up if only it would negotiate. What they forget to say is that the government could fix it up if it spent billions of dollars of taxpayers' money and waited for many years to resolve the issues. That is what they are talking about. We have to stand up for changes to both the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and the Native Title Act. We must have those changes to enable us to continue to create jobs for Territorians, thereby ensuring that our lifestyle continues to be the best in this country.
Page 2158
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016