Senator REYNOLDS(3.20 p.m.) —I want to speak on the same matter. Senator Boswell is so completely out of his depth in considering this issue that I feel rather sorry for him. I also feel sorry for a number of members of the National Party, because they are not prepared to listen rationally to what the High Court decision is.

It is absolutely irresponsible of Premier Rob Borbidge to claim that the High Court is out of step and to attack the High Court because, in actual fact, the High Court has simply considered the legal issues in an international context. Australia cannot live in a vacuum when it comes to consideration of native title issues. It will have a devastating impact on our national image. It will impact on our trade reputation. It will certainly impact on our reputation as a country committed to human rights if we are not prepared to accept a very simple judgment—Senator Boswell, if you were prepared to listen—that Aboriginal people and pastoral interests may coexist. Coexistence is the issue that the High Court has ruled on.

Senator Boswell said that we understood this in the native title debate. In the native title debate, we agreed to leave this issue to the court to determine; that is, whether or not native title did in fact remain on pastoral leases and if, in fact, it could coexist. We did not know; it was left to the court.

What really concerns me is that a premier of a state of this country does not understand, or chooses to ignore—I am giving him the benefit of the doubt perhaps—the separation of powers. He seems to think that as an elected representative he has the right to be absolutely dismissive of the High Court. He clearly chooses, in a very irresponsible way, to attack the High Court when in actual fact he should be following the leadership of someone like Jeff Kennett or the Tasmanian government. They have actually sat down and talked with indigenous people. I know that Senator Herron agrees with me, because he has made sensible comments along these lines. I acknowledge that Senator Herron and indeed the Prime Minister (Mr Howard) have spoken of the need to negotiate, to work this decision through in the interests of both pastoralists and indigenous peoples.

Anyway, the rights of pastoralists prevail. In all the damaging rhetoric Premier Borbidge has been spouting for some weeks now, he seems to choose to ignore that the High Court has said absolutely clearly that where there is a dispute that cannot be resolved the interests of the pastoralists will prevail. So much of what we are hearing is mere political rhetoric, but the damaging feature of political rhetoric is that it impacts very severely on, particularly, indigenous peoples. It unnecessarily worries pastoralists, who should be being told, `We can sort this out if we all learn to live and listen together. We can resolve these issues, just as they have been resolved on Cape York.'

Instead, the Premier of Queensland is more interested in political opportunism, in grandstanding and in attacking the High Court in an absolutely disgraceful way. He has no right to abuse the High Court. All the High Court has done has been to consider the evidence and look at the international precedents—precedents that have existed in countries like the United States, Canada and Scandinavia for much of this century. Rob Borbidge, a real estate agent from the Gold Coast, thinks he knows better than those who have been involved in these issues for nearly 100 years. (Time expired)