Milne, Sen Christine

Senator MILNE (Tasmania—Leader of the Australian Greens) (01:47): I can understand that the government says we have a difference of opinion, but these reforms have been canvassed for a very long time. Let us go back to this issue of self-determination for Aboriginal people. You are not going to get successful outcomes in Aboriginal communities unless you give Aboriginal communities the opportunity to determine who they want to come on to their land through their permit system. They had a permit system. The Northern Territory has now sought to impose other rules about permit systems. What we are trying to do is go back and actually empower Aboriginal people to control their own communities in the way that they choose. That goes to the heart of the issue that I mentioned in my speech during the second reading debate. If we are going to respect Indigenous communities, if we are going to empower them to take control of their own future and not be forced to conform to something that somebody else thought up somewhere else or the Northern Territory government thought up and decided to impose on them, why wouldn't we give them back control in the way that they had with their permit system that suited their own arrangements? It is about local governance. Why wouldn't you respect what Aboriginal communities want in terms of their own permit systems? Why wouldn't you proceed with these reforms?