Senator MINCHIN (Special Minister of State and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister)(12.59 a.m.) —All we have at the moment, Senator Margetts, is the common law which we understand to provide that grants of exclusive possession extinguish native title. The problem with the Wik judgment is that what it said was, basically, you have got to go through every lease and work out whether it is a grant of exclusive possession—meaning potentially. While it appears clear on the face of it that it is a grant of exclusive possession, we take it to be, therefore, extinguishing, and that is our understanding of the common law. Community purpose leases are grants of exclusive possession and therefore extinguish native title, so we have assembled this list on a very conservative basis of putting on it those leases that clearly are grants of exclusive possession as assessed by legal teams.

It has been legally assessed, not assessed in any other respect. Every class of lease has been assessed on the basis of whether it constitutes a grant of exclusive possession. If it is clear that it does, it has been put on the schedule. If there is any doubt, it is not included. So the only ones on the schedule are those leases that, on clear legal advice and clear legal assessment, grant exclusive possession.

Progress reported.

Sitting suspended from 1.00 a.m. to 9.30 a.m.