Page 288 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 February 2016
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strongly support this change. “Recognised and valued” are the words the bill uses. There is nothing to fear here, and I think a lot to celebrate. I had hoped that the Assembly would have been ready to enact this law last year; but, as confirmation, the committee has also recommended that we enact this change. Surely all share this belief that we must recognise, respect and value the continuing connection to land and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in spite of the lasting impacts of colonisation.
Native title is a complex area of law, and it was the subject of some discussion in the committee report. I will not go into it in detail, but I see that the government response includes providing a new explanatory statement that may go some way to assisting in alleviating some of the confusion created by the description of “extinguished” that was used in the original bill.
The report, particularly on this issue, offered a comprehensive critique and helpful suggestions regarding the importance of full, well-reasoned and substantiated explanatory statements. I agree that explanatory statements are particularly important to crossbench and opposition members and, of course, the broader community. The whole idea is that the sometimes complex legislation we debate in this place is made clearer and more understandable for the community. The community should be able to understand and engage with the law. I will personally take the committee recommendations in this space as useful advice and a reminder as to my duties in working on legislation in this Assembly.
I note that clause 5 of the bill was supported by the committee. As the explanatory statement reads:
This clause implements a conclusion of the 2014 review of the HRA—
the Human Rights Act—
and a proposal of the Children and Young People Commissioner that an explanatory note be included in section 11—protection of the family and children to indicate that a child also has the other human rights set out in the HRA. This note will alert the reader to the fact that the HRA applies equally to children, and that children are entitled to enjoy all rights guaranteed in the HRA in their own right and not only by virtue of their membership in the family unit, which must be protected …
In relation to the committee’s recommendations regarding children and young people, which are outside the scope of today’s debate, I cannot remember having had these specific issues raised with me before. I am, however, happy to have further discussions regarding the appropriate definitions and whether references to “child” should read “child or young person” and references to “children” should read “children or young people” if other members feel this should be progressed at a later stage.
As an example of the range of views on these matters of definition, I am aware the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as everyone under 18 unless “under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”. However, the United Nations definition of “youth” for statistical purposes defines “youth” as those
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