Bill
Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Economic Empowerment) Bill 2021
passed, as at 2021-12-13. Indigenous Australians portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Indigenous Australians
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2021-08-25
- second reading — 2021-08-25
- second reading — 2021-09-02
- second reading — 2021-10-18
- third reading — 2021-10-18
- introduced — 2021-10-18
- second reading — 2021-10-18
- second reading — 2021-11-30
- second reading — 2021-11-30
- committee — 2021-11-30
- third reading — 2021-11-30
- other — 2021-12-01
- passed — 2021-12-01
- royal assent — 2021-12-13
Divisions
- The majority voted against an [amendment](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2021-11-30.146.1) to the usual [second reading motion](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/), which is "*that the bill be read for a second time*" - parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. This means the amendment failed. ### Amendment text > *At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate notes that:* > > *(a) this bill proposes the most substantial changes to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act since it commenced in 1976;* > > *(b) an overwhelming majority of submitters to the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee's inquiry into this bill recommended that it not be passed, mainly due to insufficient and inadequate consultation about the changes contained in it;* > > *(c) submitters to the inquiry noted that consultation during the bill's development was only conducted with Land Councils and no free, prior and informed consent was obtained from Traditional Owner communities and non-land holding First Nations people in the Northern Territory; and* > > *(d) the Government has failed to conduct extensive, open, transparent, direct and independently facilitated consultation with all affected First Nations communities across the Northern Territory on this bill".* ### What is this bill about? According to the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2122a/22bd028), the bill's purpose "*is to amend the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (the Act) in four areas, covered by four Schedules:* * *Schedule 1 will establish the Northern Territory Aboriginal Investment Corporation (NTAIC) as a new Aboriginal-controlled corporate Commonwealth entity to strategically invest in Aboriginal businesses and commercial projects and make other payments to or for the benefit of Aboriginal peoples in — 2021-11-30, Senate: negative, ayes 7, noes 23
- The majority voted in favour of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2021-11-30.152.1) "*that schedule 2 stand as printed*," which means that the schedule will remain unchanged. This vote occurred after Victorian Senator [Lidia Thorpe](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/victoria/lidia_thorpe) (Greens) proposed an amendment to oppose that schedule. ### What is Schedule 2? According to the [bill digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2122a/22bd028): > *Schedule 2 implements several amendments recommended by the Aboriginal Land Commissioner’s 2013 Review of Part IV of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 concerning mining activity under the Act [i.e. the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976]. These amendments update the Act to reflect Northern Territory legislation and developments in mining (for example, concerning geothermal energy), clarify and change aspects of the approval process (including meeting requirements with Traditional Owners), clarify the process for dealing with relatively low impact mining for ‘extractive minerals’ (clay, gravel, sand, et cetera), and change parts of the ministerial approval process by removing delegation of some Commonwealth ministerial approvals from the Northern Territory mining minister and removing the requirement for Commonwealth ministerial approval for some mining projects.* ### What is this bill about? According to the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2122a/22bd028), the bill's purpose "*is to amend the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (the Act) in four areas, covered by four Schedules:* * *Schedule 1 will establish the Northern Territory Aboriginal Investment Corporation (NTAIC) as a new Aboriginal-controlled corporate Commonwealth entity to strategically invest in Aboriginal businesses and commercial projects and make other payments to or for the benefit — 2021-11-30, Senate: affirmative, ayes 22, noes 7
- The majority voted in favour of amendments (1) and (2) on [sheet 1514](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Famend%2Fr6766_amend_72d28e9f-d2cf-4a5d-b773-d021d176dbec%22), which were moved by Victorian Senator [Lidia Thorpe](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/victoria/lidia_thorpe) (Greens). These amendments will now form part of [the bill](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6766) and be sent back to the House of Representatives for their consideration. The amendments introduce a requirement for the Minister to request (and provide to parliament) progress reports on the Northern Territory Aboriginal Investment Corporation's strategic investment plan. ### Amendment text > *(1) Schedule 1, item 19, page 46 (line 4), omit “may”, substitute “must”.* > > *(2) Schedule 1, item 19, page 46 (after line 5), after subitem (4), insert:* > >> *(4A) The Minister must table a copy of any progress report given to the Minister in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the Minister receives the report.* ### What is this bill about? According to the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2122a/22bd028), the bill's purpose "*is to amend the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (the Act) in four areas, covered by four Schedules:* * *Schedule 1 will establish the Northern Territory Aboriginal Investment Corporation (NTAIC) as a new Aboriginal-controlled corporate Commonwealth entity to strategically invest in Aboriginal businesses and commercial projects and make other payments to or for the benefit of Aboriginal peoples in the NT* * *Schedule 2 will amend the exploration and mining provisions of the Act in order to clarify and streamline a number of approval processes* * *Schedule 3 will amend and clarify land administration provisions, including on township leases, acces — 2021-11-30, Senate: affirmative, ayes 22, noes 21
Plain-language summary
No machine-written summary in this export.
Sources
em
em supp
digest
billhome
frl act