Page 1593 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 April 1991
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this was a government report, then presumably four people would have come up with some kind of joint government report. I want to assure you, on behalf of Mr Jensen and myself - I am sure Mr Stefaniak and Mrs Nolan can speak for themselves - that four out of the seven of us who were present operated on these committees in an independent fashion. That could nowhere be clearer than in the additional comments made in the report. Indeed, I stress that the four of us acted independently and spoke independently over many, many hours, and you can read the results of that here.
I come in particular to some of the criticisms made. Mr Jensen and I join with Mr Moore in paragraph 1.18, for example, in being critical of the late providing of the report from the Melbourne firm of solicitors. We are with you on that. We agree that that came in late. We have made a number of criticisms of the consultative process that we ourselves are saying should have been better done. In other words, we are acting independently on these committees. I give that as only one example. Any of you who know Mr Jensen, who have worked with Mr Jensen, who have seen him working up until two and three in the morning and being back here first thing in the morning, who recognise his excellence and competence on a committee, will know that he speaks, thinks, writes and talks independently. I will not accept those criticisms of him for a moment.
I now come to Mrs Grassby's comment about Aborigines. First of all, Mrs Grassby may be surprised, but we agree with her. Mr Jensen and I in particular, and I do not doubt, in their own way, Mr Stefaniak and Mrs Nolan, agree with her on the importance of the Aboriginal community. I want to thank Mr Jensen for going to considerable trouble to make sure that there was an Aboriginal representation before the committees. So I want immediately to repudiate the notion that there was no concern about Aborigines.
I want to take this much further. I also spoke personally to one of the most senior and revered figures in the whole of Australia on Aboriginal history, Professor John Mulvaney. I wish I had had a longer time to speak to him. I would like to do that on another occasion. I had only a quick talk with him, under strange circumstances. However, I want to assure you that Mr Jensen and I and our colleagues were greatly concerned about this issue. (Quorum formed)
I propose to say as little as possible. I hope I have made my point about the Aborigines. I ask Mr Berry to read the comments on leasehold. We go much further than the Labor Party in endorsing the leasehold system. I shall conclude there because I am really distressed about the poor performance on the other side of the house.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Nolan) adjourned.
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