❓ The WA Government is addressing pressure on native title representative bodies by providing funding to manage mining applications, while criticizing the Commonwealth for under-resourcing these bodies and hindering native title claim resolution.
AnsweredQoN 244Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Considerable pressure is being placed on native title representative bodies to deliver results for native title claimants. What is the Government doing to relieve this pressure? Mr E.S. RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
A significant amount of native title work needs to be done in Western Australia. There are 130 native title applications to be resolved. The Government wants to reach a negotiated settlement on as many of these claims as possible. We have already resolved the Tjurabalan, Kiwirrkurra, Karajarri and Martu native title applications. The Martu application was the largest ever native title settlement in Australia. It is certainly not an easy feat to negotiate a consent determination of native title. It is particularly onerous for the native title representative bodies or land councils, which have many responsibilities under the Native Title Act, and even more since the Act was amended in 1998 by the Howard Government. Therefore, the proper resourcing of these representative bodies or land councils is critical if we are to resolve matters by agreement rather than through litigation. That was recognised by the commonwealth Attorney General on 2 August 2001 when he said that in any negotiation, it is important that all parties are adequately resourced and have the skills and expertise to participate actively in the negotiation process. It is unfortunate that the commonwealth Attorney General has not backed up that statement with action. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to fund native title representative bodies. They are established under commonwealth law and are recognised and allocated their responsibilities by the federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. The base funding of NTRBs has not increased since 1995-96, despite the imposition of additional responsibilities under the Wik amendments. In March 1999, a consultancy commissioned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission reported that the funding of representative bodies was about half of what was required to enable them to meet their core functions. The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: A significant amount of native title work needs to be done in Western Australia. There are 130 native title applications to be resolved. The Government wants to reach a negotiated settlement on as many of these claims as possible. We have already resolved the Tjurabalan, Kiwirrkurra, Karajarri and Martu native title applications. The Martu application was the largest ever native title settlement in Australia. It is certainly not an easy feat to negotiate a consent determination of native title. It is particularly onerous for the native title representative bodies or land councils, which have many responsibilities under the Native Title Act, and even more since the Act was amended in 1998 by the Howard Government. Therefore, the proper resourcing of these representative bodies or land councils is critical if we are to resolve matters by agreement rather than through litigation. That was recognised by the commonwealth Attorney General on 2 August 2001 when he said that in any negotiation, it is important that all parties are adequately resourced and have the skills and expertise to participate actively in the negotiation process. It is unfortunate that the commonwealth Attorney General has not backed up that statement with action. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to fund native title representative bodies. They are established under commonwealth law and are recognised and allocated their responsibilities by the federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. The base funding of NTRBs has not increased since 1995-96, despite the imposition of additional responsibilities under the Wik amendments. In March 1999, a consultancy commissioned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission reported that the funding of representative bodies was about half of what was required to enable them to meet their core functions. The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
A significant amount of native title work needs to be done in Western Australia. There are 130 native title applications to be resolved. The Government wants to reach a negotiated settlement on as many of these claims as possible. We have already resolved the Tjurabalan, Kiwirrkurra, Karajarri and Martu native title applications. The Martu application was the largest ever native title settlement in Australia. It is certainly not an easy feat to negotiate a consent determination of native title. It is particularly onerous for the native title representative bodies or land councils, which have many responsibilities under the Native Title Act, and even more since the Act was amended in 1998 by the Howard Government. Therefore, the proper resourcing of these representative bodies or land councils is critical if we are to resolve matters by agreement rather than through litigation. That was recognised by the commonwealth Attorney General on 2 August 2001 when he said that in any negotiation, it is important that all parties are adequately resourced and have the skills and expertise to participate actively in the negotiation process. It is unfortunate that the commonwealth Attorney General has not backed up that statement with action. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to fund native title representative bodies. They are established under commonwealth law and are recognised and allocated their responsibilities by the federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. The base funding of NTRBs has not increased since 1995-96, despite the imposition of additional responsibilities under the Wik amendments. In March 1999, a consultancy commissioned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission reported that the funding of representative bodies was about half of what was required to enable them to meet their core functions. The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to fund native title representative bodies. They are established under commonwealth law and are recognised and allocated their responsibilities by the federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. The base funding of NTRBs has not increased since 1995-96, despite the imposition of additional responsibilities under the Wik amendments. In March 1999, a consultancy commissioned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission reported that the funding of representative bodies was about half of what was required to enable them to meet their core functions. The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: A significant amount of native title work needs to be done in Western Australia. There are 130 native title applications to be resolved. The Government wants to reach a negotiated settlement on as many of these claims as possible. We have already resolved the Tjurabalan, Kiwirrkurra, Karajarri and Martu native title applications. The Martu application was the largest ever native title settlement in Australia. It is certainly not an easy feat to negotiate a consent determination of native title. It is particularly onerous for the native title representative bodies or land councils, which have many responsibilities under the Native Title Act, and even more since the Act was amended in 1998 by the Howard Government. Therefore, the proper resourcing of these representative bodies or land councils is critical if we are to resolve matters by agreement rather than through litigation. That was recognised by the commonwealth Attorney General on 2 August 2001 when he said that in any negotiation, it is important that all parties are adequately resourced and have the skills and expertise to participate actively in the negotiation process. It is unfortunate that the commonwealth Attorney General has not backed up that statement with action. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to fund native title representative bodies. They are established under commonwealth law and are recognised and allocated their responsibilities by the federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. The base funding of NTRBs has not increased since 1995-96, despite the imposition of additional responsibilities under the Wik amendments. In March 1999, a consultancy commissioned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission reported that the funding of representative bodies was about half of what was required to enable them to meet their core functions. The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
A significant amount of native title work needs to be done in Western Australia. There are 130 native title applications to be resolved. The Government wants to reach a negotiated settlement on as many of these claims as possible. We have already resolved the Tjurabalan, Kiwirrkurra, Karajarri and Martu native title applications. The Martu application was the largest ever native title settlement in Australia. It is certainly not an easy feat to negotiate a consent determination of native title. It is particularly onerous for the native title representative bodies or land councils, which have many responsibilities under the Native Title Act, and even more since the Act was amended in 1998 by the Howard Government. Therefore, the proper resourcing of these representative bodies or land councils is critical if we are to resolve matters by agreement rather than through litigation. That was recognised by the commonwealth Attorney General on 2 August 2001 when he said that in any negotiation, it is important that all parties are adequately resourced and have the skills and expertise to participate actively in the negotiation process. It is unfortunate that the commonwealth Attorney General has not backed up that statement with action. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to fund native title representative bodies. They are established under commonwealth law and are recognised and allocated their responsibilities by the federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. The base funding of NTRBs has not increased since 1995-96, despite the imposition of additional responsibilities under the Wik amendments. In March 1999, a consultancy commissioned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission reported that the funding of representative bodies was about half of what was required to enable them to meet their core functions. The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to fund native title representative bodies. They are established under commonwealth law and are recognised and allocated their responsibilities by the federal Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. The base funding of NTRBs has not increased since 1995-96, despite the imposition of additional responsibilities under the Wik amendments. In March 1999, a consultancy commissioned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission reported that the funding of representative bodies was about half of what was required to enable them to meet their core functions. The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
The State Government commissioned a review of the State’s negotiating position on native title matters. That review was undertaken by former Rio Tinto executive Paul Wand, who reported that it is likely that the current funding of NTRBs will become a significant constraint on the resolution of native title applications in Western Australia within a reasonable time frame. The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
The commonwealth Attorney General frequently gives himself a pat on the back for giving additional money to the native title system. However, it is important to see where this additional money goes. It does not go to land councils to assist them to meet their core responsibilities. All of the additional money goes to the Federal Court, ATSIC, the National Native Title Tribunal and Mr Williams’ own department. Mr Williams’ own official, First Assistant Secretary, Native Title, Philippa Horner, admitted to a Senate estimates hearing on 31 May 2002 that funding for NTRBs has not been increased in this budget. An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
An essential element of the native title negotiating process is under-resourced. We still have a lot of work to do. The land councils, which are important negotiating partners, simply do not have the resources to enable them to undertake the responsibilities given to them under commonwealth law. The Commonwealth is standing on the hose and, through that lack of financial action, frustrating the negotiation of native title claims in Western Australia. Today the State Government announced a $2.8 million program to speed up the processing of mining applications on land under native title claim. Seven specialist positions will be offered to land councils to help them manage the workload associated with mining, exploration and land title applications. It is no panacea - Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
Mr M.J. Birney: What has happened to the 11 positions that were supposed to be created? Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
Mr E.S. RIPPER: What has happened to those 11 positions is that a group representing the mining industry and land councils has determined that the best way to spend that money to advance the interests of the mining industry is to give that money partly to land councils for seven specialist positions. Therefore, there will be seven positions for the land councils and four positions for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. That was the recommendation of the technical task force on mineral tenements, which had representation from the mining industry. The mining industry, which my friend the member for Kalgoorlie purports to represent, has signed off on this matter. We are doing our bit. However, the real responsibility for the financial plight of these land councils rests with the commonwealth Attorney General. He needs to take some action, otherwise the negotiation of native title claims in this State and across the country will be severely frustrated.
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