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Oxfam apposes land rights laws

13 August 2006 - Aid agency Oxfam is warning that generations of Aboriginal people could lose control of their land if changes to land rights laws are passed.

The amendments, due to go to a vote in the Senate on Wednesday, would alter laws that give Aborigines control and communal ownership over land in the Northern Territory and which established land councils to administer that land.

Under the new regime, Aboriginal people will be offered low-interest loans and 99-year leases on their land to try to encourage private ownership and economic development.

The Government has been criticised for failing to consult indigenous communities about the changes.

Oxfam Australia's public policy director James Ensor described the legislation as deeply unpleasant.

He is worried that the Government might tie certain basic services, such as education, to the 99-year leases.

"(This) could pressure traditional land owners to hand over their land," Mr Ensor said.

Oxfam is concerned the legislation is being rammed through Parliament with no consultation and little scrutiny, he said.

Mr Ensor suggested the Government could split the bill.

"That way the broadly agreed provisions could pass while allowing the controversial issues to be debated," he said.

Source: The Australian

More information

More than 20,000 Australians tell Senate to defer Land Rights changes

Media release ANTaR

8 August 2006 - In only three days more than 20,000 Australians participated in a phone and internet campaign urging Senators to defer today’s planned vote on major changes to the iconic Northern Territory Land Rights Act.

The legislation includes major last minute amendments that could pressure Aboriginal people to give away control of their land for 99 years in exchange for securing basic services – such as housing and schools. The proposed amendments could also weaken the independence and effectiveness of Land Councils and could hinder the economic development of Aboriginal land.

 The online petition, organised by GetUp and Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), will be presented to Senators in Parliament House today. Meanwhile, thousands of supporters have been ringing their senators since Monday to demand they delay today’s vote to make time for proper consultation and scrutiny.

“This petition has gained the lightening-speed support of ordinary Australians outraged that such fundamental changes could be rushed through without the knowledge or consent of indigenous people,” said GetUp Executive Director Brett Solomon.

 ANTaR National Director, Gary Highland said the changes to the Land Rights Act were introduced against the explicit wishes of Indigenous people in the Northern Territory – and are set to be approved with only three hours of debate in the House and a one day Senate Inquiry.

“The Government is once again using its control of the Senate to ram through changes to an Act that has been supported by all sides of politics for more than 30 years. The amendments haven’t even been discussed with those traditional owners who would be most affected by them,” Mr Highland said.

The Senate Committee report found “the time made available for this inquiry to be totally inadequate. The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act is one of the most fundamentally important social justice reforms enacted in Australia and these are the most extensive and far reaching amendments that have been proposed to the Act.”

The ANTAR/Get Up campaign is at www.getup.org.au/campaign/StoptheLandGrab

Five Reasons to oppose the Government’s Land Rights changes:

1.  Traditional owners could lose control over their land

 Aboriginal people could be pressured into signing over their land to the Government for 99 years in return for basic services that their communities desperately need. This has the potential to lock generations of Aboriginal people out of effective control over their land. 

2.  Rental payments will come from the Aboriginal Benefits Account

 Rent for leasing land would not be paid by the Government, but from mining royalty equivalents via the Aboriginal Benefits Account (ABA).  The ABA was established for the benefit of Indigenous people, funded from mining activities on their land.  It was never intended to be a subsidy for government.  The amendments would in effect result in a situation where the savings of the landlord are used to pay the rent of the tenant.

3. The independence and effective management of Land Councils would be weakened

 The Minister would have greater powers to override Land Council decisions, reduce funding to Land Councils and enable smaller Land Councils to be set up - even when a significant proportion of traditional owners may be opposed to this happening.  These changes would reduce the independence of Land Councils and make them more susceptible to the risk of future political interference.

 4. Indigenous people do not support these changes.

 Much of the content of the Bill was put to Parliament without any indication that it is supported by traditional owners or Aboriginal communities more broadly in the Northern Territory.

 Traditional owners, the Northern and Central Land Councils, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and ANTaR are all opposed to the changes.  Indigenous people have not been given the opportunity to discuss these changes with the Government.  The Senate Committee inquiry on the legislation was only allowed one day of hearings.

 5.    Current land claims would be wiped out. 

 A number of current land claims that have been recommended for granting by the Aboriginal Land Commissioner would be automatically wiped out.  Aboriginal people would be denied the opportunity to have these claims assessed in a fair and objective way.

Source: ANTaR

Further information:

• Postpone the passage of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act Bill
  11 August 2006 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has grave concerns about the amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) 1976, which is currently being debated in the Senate.
• Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee Inquiry into the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment Bill 2006

Federal Government aiming to steamroll controversial changes to Land Rights laws through the Senate this coming Tuesday!!

!! Urgent Action Alert !! from Senator Bartlett (Australian Democrats)

4 August 2006 - All parties, including the federal government, recognise that the Land Rights laws for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory are of fundamental importance. They were introduced in the early years of the Fraser government and have received broad cross-party support since that time.

However, legislation making major changes to the Land Rights Act, which was only unveiled at the end of May, is scheduled to be pushed through the Senate when it resumes this coming Tuesday, August 8th.

The government allowed only an extremely rushed Senate Committee Inquiry. Even the Government Senators on the Committee described the time made available for the Inquiry as "totally inadequate".

However, even this very truncated process showed there are clearly very serious concerns and misgivings about some of the changes amongst Traditional Owners and some of the Territory Land Councils.

 While there are also some changes within the legislation that have broad support, all non-government submissions provided to the Senate Inquiry identified areas of major concern, including the submission from the Australian Mining Council.

The submission of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner expressed very strong concerns about the lack of consultation with the Indigenous people who will be directly affected by the changes, as well as with the likely impact of some of the changes.

Evidence provided to the Inquiry on the single day public hearings were able to be held also made it very clear that there has been no meaningful consultation with the people whose land ownership rights will be directly affected by many of the changes.

An attempt will be made in the Senate to split the legislation to allow the non-contentious changes aimed at improving the workability of the existing Land Rights law to be passed straight away; while deferring the contentious aspects so consultation and negotiation with affected parties, including traditional owners, can take place.

If you share my view that the contentious changes proposed to this critical area of law must not proceed without genuine consultation and informed consent from Traditional Owners and Land Councils, please urgently contact your Liberal and National Senators, asking them to support efforts to allow proper consultation with Indigenous people to take place on the contentious aspects of this legislation before they are passed into law.

My most serious concern is the lack of consultation with the people who will be directly affected by the changes, and the total lack of respect shown by this approach. If it the changes had the informed consent of traditional owners, I would support the legislation even if I had personal misgivings.

However, some of the specific components of the legislation itself which do concern me include:

• the potential for governments to be able pressure Aboriginal people to sign over their land to the government on 99 year leases;

• the fact that the rent payments on such leases will come straight out of the Aboriginal Benefits Account, meaning in effect that money that was already going to be spent for the benefit of local Aboriginal people will now be used on paying the rent on Aboriginal land;

• greater powers for the federal Minister to override Land Council decisions, reduce funding to Land Councils and to enable smaller Land Councils to be set up even when a significant proportion of traditional owners may be opposed to this happening;

• the automatic wiping out of a number of current land claims, (and the potential economic opportunities that go with them), that cover intertidal zones not contiguous with Aboriginal land - including a number which have already been recommend for granting by the Land Commissioner who assesses claims.

You can read the legislation and related information by clicking here. All of the submissions to the Inquiry can be viewed here, and the transcript of the hearings can be found here. The full report is available here. My own comments in the Senate Committee report can be read here.

Senator Andrew Bartlett

Please urgently join the camapign

Don't let the sun set on Indigenous land rights

Further information: native title issues page - includes news index and external links

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