SenatorMcCARTHY(Northern Territory) (10:30): Minister, you said this morning that stakeholders have raised concerns about the potential that section 31 agreements could be challenged. Can you explain to the Senate why section 31 is of concern and why you have raised that this morning?

Senator BRANDIS(QueenslandAttorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (10:30): Well, I have not actually raised that. This is what I said about section 31, Senator McCarthyand let me read it to you again:

One further matter raised by the committee which I want to comment on is the status of what are known assection31 agreements under the Native Title Act following the McGlade decision. Section 31 agreements are another way that agreements can be made under the act through the right to negotiate procedure. While the McGlade decision did not involve these types of agreements, stakeholders have raised concerns about the potential that these agreements could be challenged. However, as agreements made under the right to negotiate procedure have different requirements to ILUAs, the government will consider these matters further and will consider the ramification of McGlade on the right to negotiate procedure more closely with stakeholders before making amendments to the law.

That is what I said. So, Senator McCarthy, far from saying what you have attributed to me, I actually said the opposite: that the right to negotiate issue under section 31 are not the subject of this bill but will be the subject of consideration when the government reviews in a more holistic way the Native Title Act, as we have foreshadowed we will do.

SenatorMcCARTHY(Northern Territory) (10:32): So, in terms of section 31 in relation to this bill, is there any reason that you have been given as to why it should not be included in any of these amendments?

Senator BRANDIS(QueenslandAttorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (10:32): Yes; because it is not necessary to reverse legislatively the effect of the McGlade decision and the only purpose of the bill is to do so.

SenatorMcCARTHY(Northern Territory) (10:32): Minister, are you then going to embark on an investigation as to the impact of section 31 not being a part of these amendments?

Senator BRANDIS(QueenslandAttorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (10:32): No. What we are doing is we are legislatively reversing the McGlade decision, and that is all we are doing. In the course ofdebateon this bill, other issues have been raised which go way beyond its scopeone of them being the right to negotiate provisions of the act. And, as I have said, that is not part of this bill, because it is not necessary to its purpose. But there is a viewcertainly a view that was expressed to Senator Scullion and me by the native title representative groups at our meeting on 27 Aprilthat a broader, more comprehensive review of theactwas desirable. The government accepts that point of view. The will involve many issues, including the section 31 issue. That is the work of another day, but it is not part of this bill.

SenatorMcCARTHY(Northern Territory) (10:33): Why is the rectification of the ILUAs considered urgent but rectification of right to negotiate agreements not?

Senator BRANDIS(QueenslandAttorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (10:33): I think it is fair to say that the McGlade decision changed the playing field and put at legal risk ILUAs in which native title claimants and, indeed, all parties to the ILUAs have proceeded on the basis that they were on a sound legal footing. As a result of McGlade, some of them were put at risk for reasons that you understand. Therefore, the government's immediate focus, urged by, in particular, the native title claimants, was to restore certainty following the McGlade decision. That is the narrow, surgical focus of this bill. A broader review of provisions of the Native Title Act may very well be desirable but is the work of another day.

SenatorMcCARTHY(Northern Territory) (10:34): just to clarify, then, Minister. You are saying that the ILUAs are impacted by McGlade but section 31 is not.

Senator BRANDIS(QueenslandAttorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (10:34): essentially, yes. A lot of people have made remarks on this debate which frankly relevant to the McGlade decision whether out of an imperfect understanding of the way the act works all for the sake of making mischief or for whatever reason the narrow focus of this bill is the McGlade decision that does not require reform of section 31.