Indigenous and green groups are worried plans to give the Chief Minister and a senior bureaucrat sweeping new powers to override laws to approve major projects, could erode Indigenous land rights and allow nuclear waste dump. Public consultation on the Territory Coordinator Bill closes in less than 24hrs, and the NT government and industry insists it’s only intended to speed up government approval processes.
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00:00The NT Government and industry say the Territory Coordinator is needed to slash red tape and
00:09smooth the path for projects like the fledgling Beetaloo Basin gas field.
00:15It's very much about streamlining processes and success and empowering energy projects
00:21to go ahead.
00:22The law would give the Coordinator and Chief Minister powers to take control of major project
00:28approval processes and exempt projects from the checks and balances in a long list of
00:34environmental and land laws.
00:37It will provide greater transparency and better integrity for the regulation processes that
00:42are currently in place.
00:43The bill states the new powers won't conflict with federal Indigenous land rights and native
00:49title laws which enable traditional owners to veto and change projects.
00:55And it very clearly states that the Sacred Sites Act and Aboriginal Land Rights Act will
01:00be excluded from the powers of the Territory Coordinator.
01:04But a veteran native title barrister thinks the bill could erode federally enshrined Indigenous
01:09rights, particularly where it allows the Coordinator to authorise works on anybody's land to see
01:17if it should host a major project.
01:19The mere fact of a right to go onto country would be inconsistent with a native title
01:26which is held on an exclusive basis.
01:28Green groups are also worried the override power could apply to the law prohibiting a
01:33nuclear waste dump in the NT.
01:35It paves the way for the dumping of nuclear waste in the Territory by getting around the
01:40processes that we currently have.
01:42The Chief Minister says the nuclear law has only been included because NT hospitals store
01:48low-level radioactive waste.
01:51The reason that that act has to be in there is because of medical isotopes that we're
01:55dealing with through our hospital networks.
01:58The Territory Government is defending its plan by saying other states also have Coordinator
02:03roles.
02:04Many jurisdictions do have Coordinator Generals, but they don't have the power to override
02:09numerous laws which has been proposed for the Territory Coordinator.