Zoe Kenny
The federal Coalition government is pushing ahead with a bill to make major changes to the 1976 Northern Territory Land Rights Act. The amendments severely weaken Indigenous people's control of their land in the NT and are the most significant attack on Indigenous rights in decades.
The NT Land Rights Act was the first Australian law setting out guidelines under which land title could be claimed by Indigenous people, and allowing them veto over mining and development on that land. The act also established four land councils to represent Indigenous people in the NT and help them assert their claims over traditional land. Today, Indigenous people own almost 50% of NT land.
The adoption of the act in 1976 was a historic victory for Indigenous Australians. It was won by years of difficult struggle, including the Gurindji people's 1966-75 Wave Hill cattle station strike. The successful strike became a symbol of the struggle for Indigenous rights and helped cohere public opinion in favour of voting "yes" in the 1967 referendum to count Indigenous people in the census and allow the Commonwealth to make laws regarding Indigenous people. In 1975, then prime minister Gough Whitlam handed the Wave Hill station back to the Gurindji people.
The Coalition argues that the amendments to the act are designed to encourage an "enterprising" culture in Indigenous communities by giving them the power to lease their land to businesses for up to 99 years. It also states that breaking up communal land titles will encourage individual homemaking and that giving the federal government the power to break the NT land councils down into smaller bodies will "cut through red tape".
Indigenous affairs minister Senator Mal Brough said in a June 13 media release that the amendments are aimed at giving "Indigenous Australians a genuine shot at real land ownership", as well as "breaking welfare dependencies and providing real opportunity to participate in the market economy". However, the editorial in the July 27 National Indigenous Times (NIT) described the amendments as "a white grab for black land, pure and simple. They are not in the interests of Aboriginal people, they are in the interests of government, developers and mining companies."
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation state on their website: "Under the guise of promoting economic development, the legislation could see Indigenous people lease back their land for 99 years in exchange for securing basic services — such as housing and schools ... this has the potential to lock generations of Aboriginal people out of effective control over their land." A getup.org online petition to stop the bill was signed by more than 25,000 people in four days.
The NIT editorial claims that sensationalised media reporting this year of violence and abuse in Indigenous communities was aimed at swaying public opinion in favour of drastic and draconian measures. Indeed, the atmosphere generated by the coverage prompted the president of the NT branch of the Australian Medical Association, Paul Bauert, to call for the Australian army to enter Indigenous communities as "peacekeepers".
ALP shadow Indigenous affairs spokesperson Chris Evans was quoted in the August 8 Melbourne Age as saying that "the government's actions ... represent another paternalistic attempt to tell Aboriginal people what's good for them". The Greens and Democrats have also criticised the bill.
The current attack coincides with the Coalition's push for expanded uranium mining. Such an expansion would be facilitated by giving mining corporations greater access to resources on Indigenous land without the need for negotiations with or compensation to Indigenous owners.
Debate on the bill in parliament was adjourned on August 8.