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Permit changes to make problems worse

22 June 2007 - CLC - The Central Land Council says it is disappointed with the Federal Government’s decision to abolish some aspects of the permit system for Aboriginal lands because it may exacerbate existing problems rather than alleviate the enormous pressures communities find themselves under.

CLC Director David Ross said the move goes against the wishes of Aboriginal people.

“Removing permits from major communities could provide a free-for-all peddling of alcohol and marijuana and pornography or the inflicting of further sexual or physical abuse on children,” Mr Ross said.

“At least with the permit system it was possible to ask somebody if they had a permit and what they were doing in the community,” Mr Ross said. “If they suspected somebody of trafficking alcohol or whatever they could ask them to leave instead of waiting days for police to obtain evidence which is often extremely hard to do.

“In addition, the CLC’s constituents told the Minister’s advisers in no uncertain terms what their views were about the permit system: that they wanted to retain it in its entirety, but their views were dismissed once again. So I think that this sort of top-down approach just increases the gap between Aboriginal people and the wider community and ultimately leads to further dysfunction and alienation. That is not healthy for anybody,” he said.

For 30 years the CLC has operated a permit system to allow visitors, travellers, workers, contractors, researchers and Government officials a system of regulated access to all Aboriginal land. Permits are rarely refused but access is often negotiated. The system is free.

“To imply that the permit system is responsible for disadvantage is simplistic and wrong,” Mr Ross said.

“The only economies scrapping the permit system is likely to foster is the dealing of petrol, drugs and porn as well as to assist the carpetbaggers and unscrupulous art dealers that hope to operate in Aboriginal communities.

“There is just no evidence that ‘open’ communities are better off than communities on Aboriginal land whose access has been regulated by permits,” he said.

“We’re particularly concerned about the removal of the permit system from Mutitjulu at Uluru because the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park currently has half a million people visit it each year and that number of curious tourists is likely to lead to an extreme lack of privacy for people living in the community.”

Mr Ross said removing the permit system from remote communities like Kintore, Mount Liebig and Nyirripi, which are renowned for their fine art, will leave them vulnerable to unscrupulous operators.

He said neither the Northern Territory inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse nor the federal inquiry into the Aboriginal arts sector recommended the removal of the permit system.

It’s not clear how the Federal Government will legally define the “common areas” in major communities and many access roads to communities are already open to the public.

Where the permit system starts and stops will be confusing and unclear.

Source: Central Land Council

Further information: child protection inquiry - permit system changes issues page - includes news index and external links