2016-11-08
Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) — I just have some questions about the progress of the Eastern Maar settlement process under the principal act and quite possibly under the provisions of this bill as well. Can the minister please detail the progress of that settlement claim up to the minute, as I believe there may have been some more progress as this bill has worked its way through the house?
[Speech was interrupted.]
Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) — Thank you for that answer, Minister. A threshold statement is a legal claim for recognition of traditional owner rights under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act — that is, the principal act that we are amending. However, the process for that is not necessarily described in the act. Part A of a threshold statement is the administrative, preliminary work to establish whether the group making the claim is the correct group and that the group has appointed an appropriate traditional owner organisation to represent them. The Eastern Maar group lodged a native title registration claim and a threshold statement within a few days of each other back in December 2012. They were able to get their claim registered with the courts by March 2013. Why was the Federal Court process to register a native title claim so much faster than the threshold process — that is, under this law — when the point of creating the Traditional Owner Settlement Act was to avoid long court processes and get on with negotiations right here in Victoria?
[Speech was interrupted.]
Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) — It was nearly three years after the claim was lodged — that is, December 2015 — before the government notified other groups and called for submissions on the claim. Do you agree that is a rather long time for a piece of legislation that was created for the purpose of avoiding ponderous court processes and really getting on with the job here?
[Speech was interrupted.]
Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) — The minister and I may disagree about whether the Federal Court processes are necessarily less stringent than Victoria's process, but I just have one final question. For my update on the current status of this claim — that is, exactly which stage of the process it is at now — I am relying on the Native Title Services Victoria annual report for 2014–15, which details some matters in relation to the Eastern Maar group. Can the minister advise the house what the current step is that this claim is going through?
To access full speeches and debates please visit http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/hansard where you can search Victorian Hansard publications from 1991 onwards.