Mr MELHAM (9:57 AM) —The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment Bill (No. 3) 2000 will remove an anomaly in the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 in relation to schedule 1 land. Currently, the act allows the Governor-General to grant title to a contiguous Aboriginal land trust to a public right of way on land not contained in schedule 1 of the act that has ceased to exist. The anomaly arises as no such procedure allows the grant of such lands if they are contained within schedule 1 of the act.

This amendment bill will correct that anomaly by allowing the minister to recommend to the Governor-General grants to such lands contained in schedule 1. The amendment is technical and uncontroversial in nature. It has the support of the Labor Party because it has resulted from a process of negotiation involving indigenous and non-indigenous stakeholders, a process which resulted in the informed consent of all parties concerned. That informed consent followed consultation between the Northern Territory government, the Central Land Council and two Aboriginal land trusts involved with the issue. All parties arrived at an agreement and, as part of that agreement, the Central Land Council and the Northern Territory government wrote to the government requesting this amendment.

Such agreements as this amendment bill has resulted from are the preferred way for moving forward on indigenous issues generally. Negotiations do not always lead to solutions, but are vital in any process where a balanced solution is sought.

I was pleased to hear the minister in his second reading speech on this bill illustrate the government's new-found commitment to `assist in achieving negotiated outcomes in respect of the land rights act'. That is in Hansard of 1 June 2000, at page 15,818. He went on to set the benchmark for his government regarding consultation with indigenous Australians:

The government must apply its own benchmark to any of its intended future amendments of the land rights act. We on this side of the House, as an effective opposition, have no choice but to ensure the government lives up to its own benchmark. The government already has on the record the views of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory concerning their land rights act. They are happy with its operation generally and do not want any change to it without their informed consent. It is their act; a piece of Commonwealth legislation that has successfully returned land to its traditional owners.

The minister has given the government's new-found commitment to consultation and taking into account indigenous views. In the past, the government has gone out of its way to ignore the views of indigenous Australians. This has been most evident in its treatment of native title, indigenous heritage protection, the stolen generation and a number of other issues that go to the centre of indigenous life. The opposition welcomes the minister's commitment to indigenous consultation and assures the government we will be keeping it accountable for that commitment. We have pleasure in supporting the bill before the House.