Mr SLIPPER(5.15 p.m.) —Speaking on the Native Title Amendment (Tribunal Appointments) Bill this afternoon at this time is an unexpected pleasure, as the honourable member for Banks (Mr Melham) was indeed intended to be speaking and I was the third speaker on this bill. I certainly did not anticipate that we would be getting to it on Thursday afternoon.

The government is, however, very keen to facilitate a debate in relation to the Native Title Amendment (Tribunal Appointments) Bill. The government is determined to ensure that the tribunal operates in an appropriate way, and therefore this bill makes certain changes with respect to the appointment of the registrar of the tribunal. At the present time, the appointment of the existing registrar has expired and the government is in the process of looking at replacement appointments. The bill includes certain criteria which the government will take into account when considering the appointment of a new person to this very important position.

The government is on record as recognising the concept of native title. This government accepts the decision of the High Court in the Mabo case and also has given its response to the Wik decision of the High Court brought down earlier this year. So this government is on record as recognising the rights of indigenous people, but it also believes that other sectors of the community have important rights which ought to be enshrined in the law of Australia.

The Native Title Amendment (Tribunal Appointments) Bill 1997 includes a number of matters and there are two principal amendments in the bill. The first government amendment removes the requirement for the registrar to be admitted to legal practice for five years; rather, a registrar would have to be legally qualified, and that is certainly very important. The government also believes that it is important that registrars have experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies, or the law, or administration or any other class of activity seen as being relevant to the duties of the registrar.

Proposed amendments to the Native Title Act will remove the need for the registrar to apply an acceptance test to native title claims. Although a new registration test will be applied, and hence legal qualifications are necessary, it is no longer necessary to have the same level of legal experience. Qualification provisions for appointment of registrars in other federal courts and tribunals do not require an applicant to be admitted and practising for a period of five years.

Traditionally, of course, the requirement for appointment and practice for a period of five years is something which has existed in a wide range of legislation, yet the government in introducing this legislation is updating the law and in doing so is recognising that, while it is very important that a registrar have an understanding of the law and be admitted to practice, there is no magic in the period of five years of law practice. What the government will do when looking at appointing a replacement registrar for the tribunal is consider a whole range of activities, the whole range of experience, the whole range of abilities which will benefit the registrar in the native title tribunal area.

The second government amendment provides further clarification of when a member of the tribunal is considered to have a conflict of interest. It expands on the existing section 122 in the Native Title Act. It relates to the majority recommendation 9 of the report on the Native Title Amendment Bill 1996 by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title. The amendment will mean that members, except where the parties agree, will not be eligible to participate in any proceedings where they are or have been employed or engaged as a consultant in the previous 12 months. This amendment will address community concerns that tribunal members are and are seen to be impartial, but it is flexible enough to allow people experienced in native title matters to be appointed to the National Native Title Tribunal.

It is important that everyone who has an interest in native title, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, pastoralists and miners, is in fact confident in the standard of treatment handed out by the tribunal. I believe that the amendments being made by the government in the qualifications of persons eligible for appointment as registrar will move very strongly in the right direction and will make sure that the entire Australian community can have confidence in the ability, capacity and competence of the person who from time to time is appointed as registrar.

There is absolutely no truth in any suggestion that the government's amendments may be criticised as downgrading the position of registrar. Given the changes in the role of the National Native Title Tribunal, it is appropriate to review the qualifications of the tribunal to allow a more diverse group of applicants to be considered for the position. In other words, this government is determined to make sure that we have members and registrars of merit. What we aim to do is to have the best possible people doing the job so that the Australian community will feel that they have value for money.

It is without doubt that there are some in the Australian community who have expressed very great concern over native title and over the way the whole debate has gone. This is why this government is absolutely determined to ensure that we have integrity in the system. This is why this government is bringing in this legislation to ensure that we will be able to select from a wide range of applicants for this very important position.

Some might also suggest that the second amendment included in the bill before the House today could be criticised for not adopting the full text of recommendation 9 which would mean that a member, often appointed on a part-time basis, could not continue to have any involvement in native title matters once appointed. The government makes no apology whatsoever for saying that we believe that this would be too restrictive and it would make it almost impossible to attract people with the most appropriate and relevant experience to the National Native Title Tribunal as members.

This is quite a small piece of legislation before the parliament. Unlike many of the bills introduced by the former Labor government, it seems to have only two pages. It is a very clear and concise bill, with two parts. We hope that we receive the endorsement not only of this chamber but also of the other place. I am very pleased to urge this House to support this bill.