Mr HAASE (2:46 PM) —Is the Attorney-General aware of moves to disallow the Western Australian native title regime? Would the Attorney-General inform the House of the impact this move would have on Western Australia's mining and pastoral industries?

Mr WILLIAMS (Attorney-General) —I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for his question. It is extremely disappointing to see that the Labor Party is continuing to play its game of political chance with the state based native title regimes after allowing a Labor state to succeed in introducing its own native title regime—albeit only a half-baked scheme—in Queensland. Labor is going to knock out a scheme in a state with a coalition government.

Mr McMullan interjecting—

Mr SPEAKER —The Manager of Opposition Business is defying the chair. The Attorney-General has the call. The Manager of Opposition Business, better than anyone else in this chamber, knows the forms of the House and what is available to him if he feels that a comment needs to be made.

Mr WILLIAMS —The member for Fraser, whom you have just been indirectly addressing, Mr Speaker, signalled Labor's intention to move a disallowance motion in the Senate only hours after the determination in relation to Western Australia had been tabled. With such a quick reaction there must obviously have been a very detailed consideration of the extensive explanatory statement that was tabled at the same time. The resource sector is a key industry for both WA and for Australia. It earns vital export dollars and it provides jobs for indigenous and non-indigenous people alike. The Premier of Western Australia is wont to say that Western Australia has 10 per cent of the population and produces 25 per cent of the export earnings.

Mr Howard —I have heard him say that.

Mr WILLIAMS —The Prime Minister says that he has heard him say that. The consequence of that is that uncertainty over native title has a significant impact on exploration and mining investment, with consequences for all Australians. According to the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, exploration expenditure in WA has fallen by 43 per cent from its peak in 1997; gold exploration has fallen by 60 per cent over the same period; annual exploration expenditure is $268 million a year less than in 1997; and outstanding tenement applications have grown from nil at the end of 1995 to 11,000 in 1998 due to native title complications.

All federal members and senators have today been sent a letter seeking support for the WA regime. The letter was signed by six presidents of six organisations: the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA, the WA Farmers Federation and the Forest Industries Federation—all involved with employers and providing employment to indigenous and non-indigenous people alike. In that letter, the presidents say:

Despite all this, it appears that Federal Labor is trying to compensate for its hypocritical deal on Queensland native title by threatening to throw out the WA regime. The member for Fraser is accusing the Court government of playing politics and being deliberately provocative with native title. The Court government has always made its intentions quite clear. WA wants its own solutions to native title—procedural requirements relating to certain mining tenements and compulsory acquisitions on pastoral lease and reserved land that have been specifically designed to suit WA. But it remains to be seen how Labor will explain its duplicity in the course of the coming state campaign to the people of WA, especially those in the places in the member for Kalgoorlie's electorate where mining is the lifeblood of the community, indigenous and non-indigenous alike.