Bipartisanship necessary to end native title limbo

THE Queensland Resources Council is calling for a show of bipartisanship from the federal Coalition and the Labor Party to ensure legislation currently before the Senate is passed to amend the Native Title Act in the Senate on Tuesday.
 
The Native Title Amendment (Indigenous Land Use Agreements) Bill 2017, has been used as a political football by some politicians and many green activists and has been hanging in limbo since the Bill’s introduction in the House of Representatives in February.
 
The Bill was in response to the McGlade judgment in the Full Federal Court on 1 February, which held that all named applicants on a registered native title claim must sign the ILUA as a condition precedent to its registration.
 
The judgment made no exceptions for deceased or incapacitated applicants and the ILUA would be rendered invalid if it was not signed by 100 percent of registered applicants. Prior to McGlade, obtaining the majority of applicants’ signatures was sufficient to have the ILUA registered.
 
QRC Chief Executive Ian Macfarlane said the scenario meant that current and future ILUAs could be at risk.
 
“I call on all politicians from all sides of politics to raise above politics and work to continue to pass the amendments through the Senate. If the amendments don’t pass, there is the potential to affect hundreds of mining leases in Queensland and cost thousands of jobs,” Mr Macfarlane said.

www.qrc.org.au

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