Page 1797 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 15 June 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
That obviously is an important part of the process of working out where we stand. At the same time, we have to recognise that the Commonwealth Government has also closed off, or tried to close off, some options in this debate. I must say that both the Prime Minister and the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs have indicated very clearly that they see many of the claims being made by Aboriginal groups as being extremely unhelpful in this process. The Minister, Mr Tickner, said at about the same time as the meeting in Melbourne that he considered some of the claims to be unlikely to succeed and as being unhelpful to the process whereby reconciliation would be achieved in the long term.
Mrs Carnell: So did the Prime Minister.
MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed, the Prime Minister said the same thing. I must say that I have not heard those same words from the lips of our Chief Minister.
Ms Follett: No; you will not, either.
MR HUMPHRIES: And here we have it; the Chief Minister says, "And you will not, either". That is the unfortunate part. The Prime Minister acknowledges, and his Minister for Aboriginal Affairs acknowledges, that we cannot have a real debate on reconciliation while many, many white Australians feel greatly threatened by the implications of the Mabo decision. While white Australians feel that it is a case of defending their own property, or public property in their State or Territory, against claims by Aboriginal groups, reconciliation will be greatly hindered.
Mr Connolly: And who is stirring them up to feel that way? Who devoted question time to encouraging such feelings?
MR HUMPHRIES: The Attorney-General interjects. I was not the first person to say that these claims were over the top. I recall seeing Robert Tickner say those words, or words to that effect. It indicates very clearly, Mr Deputy Speaker, that there are other Australian politicians, even Labor ones, who acknowledge that some of what has happened in the last few days, from the point of view of claims by Aboriginal groups, has not been helpful.
The fact of life is, Mr Deputy Speaker, that we do have a very serious question hanging over the leasehold system in the ACT. The fact of life is that the Prime Minister, on 8 June, said very clearly that native title could be revived when short-term leases expire. I asked the Chief Minister today in question time what sort of short-term leases that was meant to refer to. Are any of those short-term leases present in the ACT? The Chief Minister, with great respect, had no answer to that question. The Government, with respect, does not know the answer to that question. If there was a 10-year commercial lease in the ACT - I am sure that there would be many - I feel quite sure that it would be considered a short-term lease within the terms of what the Prime Minister was talking about, and the expiry of that lease would be a signal, without legislation having been enacted previously by this Government - there is no indication of it coming forward - that a Mabo-style claim might succeed against that land. The Chief Minister shakes her head, but she was careful in her statement to say that it was very unlikely, not impossible. I think, with respect, that we need more certainty than that.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .