Kokatha Native Title Claim

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (15:22): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Will the minister inform the house about the recent consent determination of the Kokatha native title claim?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:23): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. On 1 September I had the enormous pleasure, not of actually being attorney-general, but of witnessing and signing the historic determination of the Kokatha native title claim as acting attorney-general. I joined elders and members of the Kokatha community and Federal Court Chief Justice, the Hon. James Allsop AO, for a specially convened Federal Court hearing held on country at Andamooka Station.

Andamooka Station is a place of great cultural significance to Kokatha people. It is a place where many Kokatha people were born and lived and have their strong connections to that land. It is a place where their loved ones are buried. It was therefore particularly fitting that the hearing was taking place on that country, that very country that so many people have an emotional connection with. I am proud that South Australia, our state, perhaps more than any other jurisdiction, has demonstrated a great commitment to resolving native title matters through negotiation and consent rather than litigation.

This commitment is clearly evident in the way the Kokatha claim was determined and settled. The Kokatha are part of the south-easternmost sub-group of the Western Desert society. They are linked into the wider Western Desert society through a common language and a shared religious and ceremonial life. The region affected by the determination includes a number of significant sites that continue to play an important role in their traditional laws and customs. The determination will recognise the native title rights of the Kokatha people to hunt and fish, camp and gather, and undertake cultural activities such as ceremonies and meetings, and protect these places of extreme significance to their culture on country.

It is an area geographically located in the north-west pastoral district of the state. It covers approximately 30,000 square kilometres and lies to the north and north-west of Port Augusta, between Lake Torrens to the east and Lake Gairdner to the west. It includes the towns of Roxby Downs, Andamooka, Woomera and Pimba. I am told that the majority of the determination area is covered by pastoral lease and was first settled by non-Indigenous people in the late 19^th century.

In addition, approximately one-third of the determination area is covered by the Woomera Prohibited Area, which was first established in 1947 as a joint British-Australian venture. It has been the site of long-range weapons testing, of course, as well as nuclear weapons testing, rocketry and multiple satellite launches. The determination area is also highly productive for minerals and includes the Olympic Dam mine. It is the site of the world's largest known uranium deposit and the world's fourth largest copper deposit and has played a significant role in the economic development of both South Australia and this country.

Throughout all the changes that this region has witnessed in its more recent history, the Kokatha people have been the one constant in the story. Given the interest in the area, negotiations and mediation have been a very important part in determining this claim. The claim involved a large number of respondent parties, including the state and the commonwealth, the BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation, and various other parties with mining or pastoral interests in the area.

I am extremely pleased to note that, as part of the settlement of the claim, a significant Indigenous land-use agreement is being entered into between the state, the Kokatha and BHP Billiton. This agreement, together with the consent determination, brings certainty for people who have interests in this area. It puts in place a clear process for engagement between the native title holders and the state in relation to future state activities on native title land, and it settles, by agreement, compensation for past extinguishment of native title by the state in a manner which provides both financial and other benefits to the Kokatha people. It is anticipated that these benefits will assist the Kokatha to become key players in the economic, social and cultural development of this region into the future.

I believe that this consent determination, and others like it that have been entered into in the past and that will be entered into in the future, constitutes formal recognition of an important part of our country's history. It acknowledges that this land has provided a spiritual and physical home to its traditional owners long before white settlers ever arrived on these shores. In essence, this consent determination is recognition in Australian law of the Kokatha people's relationship, rights and interests over this land as the holders of native title of this area. In the words of Ms Joyleen Thomas, the co-applicant for the Kokatha native title claim, this determination:

is about getting recognition for our grandparents, our ancestors, and also for our children and grandchildren. It is important for our children to have a place in the world, to have identity and belonging, and to feel connected to the country of their ancestors.

It is my sincere hope that it will bring us all closer together in the spirit of reconciliation. I recall that the Hon. Mr Justice Allsop, the presiding judge in this matter, told all of us assembled that the recognition was not a grant of rights but a recognition that native title has always been held by the Kokatha people and always will be held by them. So it is not a grant or something that the state has handed over to these people: it is merely a recognition that they have for all time, which is relevant to us today and may stretch back over many thousands of years, been the ones who held and owned the land, and we recognise that they do today.

Completing the settlement of this native title claim has taken an enormous amount of work and effort. I would like to congratulate all parties involved on the contribution towards resolving this claim, which will open up this new era for the Kokatha people and this region of South Australia.