[Greens-Media] Government must act on Aboriginal land claim backlog

[David Mallard]

The NSW Government’s failure to transfer lands that are part of
approved Aboriginal land claims is depriving Aboriginal people of
significant opportunities for economic and social self-determination,
says Jan Barham, Greens MP and spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs.

“The latest Auditor-General’s report on Trade and Investment shows
that the Crown Lands Minister has yet to transfer approved land claims
worth $719 million.

“The failure to transfer land worth almost three quarters of a billion
dollars despite the claims having been approved is holding up
Aboriginal Land Councils from being able to engage in important work
that would contribute to the wellbeing of Aboriginal people,” Ms
Barham said.

Ms Barham noted that in addition to the incomplete transfers of
approved claims, the Auditor-General estimated that at the
Government’s current pace, it would take 122 years to clear the
backlog of undetermined Aboriginal land claims.

“Two years ago the Auditor-General told the Government it needed a
plan for reducing the number of unprocessed claims. There are 504
claims that have been waiting for determination for more than a
decade, and a total of more than 25,000 land claims still need to be
determined, yet the Minister for Crown Lands hasn’t put forward a plan
for improving the processing of claims.

“The only effort we’ve seen from Minister Humphries has been an effort
to restrospectively rule out claims relating to coastal lands in the
disgraceful Bill that the Government was forced to withdraw last
month.”

Ms Barham welcomed the recent amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights
Act that would allow voluntary agreements to be negotiated as a way of
resolving land claims, but warned that this process should not be
treated as a solution to the failure of Crown Lands in dealing with
land claims across the state.

“The amendments made by the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs provide a
new pathway that Aboriginal Land Councils may choose to take up. But
if the alternative is for claims to be left unprocessed by the
Government for years or even decades, then there is no way the
agreements can be regarded as voluntary.

“More than thirty years ago this state enacted a system of Aboriginal
land rights in recognition of the historic dispossession and
disadvantage. The Government, and in particular the Crown Lands
Minister, needs to get serious about fulfilling the promise of land
rights,” Ms Barham concluded.

Auditor-General’s report:
http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/news/volume-fourteen-2014-focusing-on-trade-and-investment

For Further Comment, please contact Jan Barham directly on 0447 853 891