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| home | news lYorta Yorta Decision: Terra Nullius by AttritionPress Release 12 December 2002 - The Australian Democrats' Indigenous Affairs spokesperson, Senator Aden Ridgeway, today expressed his disappointment in the High Court's decision in the Yorta Yorta case, branding it terra nullius by attrition. "This decision shows that native title cannot be seen as the sole means by which we, as a nation, will be able to resolve the outstanding issues between Indigenous people and other Australians," said Senator Ridgeway. "The Yorta Yorta case was the longest running native title case in Australia, having been bounced around the courts and various mediation process since 1994. "It is also likely to claim the unenviable title of being the most expensive – leaving generations of Yorta Yorta to carry the unjust legacy of debt. "The determination of the Victorian and NSW Governments to deny the Yorta Yorta their native title rights is particularly concerning for all Indigenous Australians, but especially those in the South-East. "This approach sits uncomfortably with these Governments' much touted commitments to Reconciliation. "Just as the courts and the associated adversarial process of litigation is not an appropriate policy response to the legacy of the stolen generations, so too it falls well short of the mark when it comes to resolving the aftermath of more than two hundred years of oppression. "Regardless of this latest judgement, the Yorta Yorta people know their culture and their connection to country still exists. "The Australian Democrats pay tribute to the Yorta Yorta people for their determination in their fight for justice and support them in their ongoing battle for recognition," concluded Senator Ridgeway. Source: Australian Democrats
Media Release 12 December 2002 - The Native Title Act has failed the Yorta Yorta people, Greens Senator Bob Brown said today. "This much-lauded act pulled the rug from under Indigenous Australians' rights to their land," Senator Brown said. "Its provisions ripped those rights of Aborigines right across southern Australia where, despite their opposition, they were forcibly dispossessed by the British, and the recording of their attachments to the land and their subsequent history was denied. "In northern Australia this Act has widely reduced the first Australians to consultants about their land. "The Yorta Yorta's dispossession is a national injustice - an unresolved theft which awaits future ratification," Senator Brown said. Greens Senator Bob Brown Source: Australian Greens
Media Release 12 December 2002 - "The High Court's decision to reject the Yorta Yorta's native title appeal confirms that the Native Title Act is resulting in continuing acts of dispossession and cultural genocide", the National President of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), Phil Glendenning said today. "In this case it is particularly staggering that not only have the Yorta Yorta been unfairly deprived of recognition of their culture and the rights which flow from it, but that they have been lumbered with the costs of their own dispossession. "On this day our justice system has utterly failed the Yorta Yorta. "The decision demonstrates how the definition of native title is becoming increasingly more restricted and narrow and that the opportunities of Mabo are being steadily whittled away", Mr Glendenning said. "It confirms that the most dispossessed have the least to gain from native title. "The odds are clearly stacked against native title claimants at every stage. "The decision to award costs against the Yorta Yorta will also act as a disincentive for native title claimants to appeal adverse decisions", Mr Glendenning said. "This decision, hard on the heels of the disappointing Mirriuwung-Gajerrong decision, once again underlines the urgent need for a new approach to native title and other matters of 'unfinished business'; based on genuine negotiation with Indigenous people. "What is required are negotiated solutions that recognise that a coexistence of Indigenous and non-indigenous interests is not only possible, but a desirable outcome. That would be real reconciliation in action. "ANTaR calls on the Federal Government to rethink its approach to native title and to embark on meaningful negotiations with Indigenous peoples to secure solutions that properly respect Indigenous rights and interests, and that provide Indigenous communities with the means to address economic and social disadvantage", Mr Glendenning concluded. Further information and interviews: Phil Glendenning; or David Cooper Source: Australians for Native Title & Reconciliation (ANTaR) Yorta Yorta decision shameful Media Release December 12, 2002 - The decision on the Yorta Yorta High Court appeal will be remembered as a shameful event in Australia's history. In 1998 the Fedral Court's Justice Olney said that the 'tide of history has indeed washed away any real acknowledgement of [Yorta Yorta peoples] traditional laws and any real observance of their traditional customs'. In reconsidering Justice Olney's genocidal verdict, 5 out of 7 high court judges upheld his decision. "This judgement brings no honour to Australia's legal system. The Yorta Yorta are the traditional owners of around 20,000 square kilometres of land and waterways. They continue to practice and maintain culture and traditional law. They actively work to protect Country and Culture, and have always done so in the face of white invasion and dispossession attempts over Yorta Yorta Country", said Ms Indira Narayan, spokesperson of the Barmah Millewa Collective of Friends of the Earth. "Friends of the Earth has worked for many years with the Yorta Yorta Nation and it is clear that this community maintains very strong day to day connections to their land and waters. This is obvious to anyone who spends time in the region. Friends of the Earth supports the Yorta Yorta seeking Native Title rights over their Traditional Country", said Mr Cam Walker, campaigns co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth. "Friends of the Earth and the Yorta Yorta Nation have been jointly campaigning to return title and management rights over the Barmah and Millewa red gum forests on either side of the Murray River to the Yorta Yorta Nation as a jointly managed National Park. The Yorta Yorta have consistently demanded better land and water management over their country and self-determined rights over cultural heritage management. The Yorta Yorta are inspirational leaders in demanding legal recognition of their sovereignty over Country. Clearly the Court system has failed the Yorta Yorta people." There can be no reconciliation when there is Land Injustice. The Victorian, New South Wales and federal governments have opposed the Yorta Yorta native title claim. "Given its self-claimed credentials of being 'socially progressive', the Victorian governments opposition was especially hypocritical. The Bracks government must follow State ALP policy and negotiate in good faith with the Yorta Yorta for satisfactory outcomes with regards to returning title of, access to, and control over, their traditional lands", said Mr Walker. Source:Friends of the Earth Melbourne High Court decision based on outdated notion Media Release 13 December 2002 - The Chairperson of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), Ms Pat Anderson, said today that Aboriginal people across the country were hurt and angered by the High Court¹s decision to reject the Yorta Yorta land claim appeal. It was based on an outdated notion of who Aboriginal people are, Ms Anderson said. "The power and strength of our Aboriginal society is our ability to adapt. Our cultures were never static if they had been we would not be here today. Our creative flexibility is our great strength. We have survived and our cultures have survived. "But now our very ability to adapt to the stresses and forces placed upon us is used to deny us rights to land. "The High Court decision is based upon an outdated notion of who we are and demonstrates how, whichever way we turn, it seems the cards are stacked against us. Yet we have never ceded sovereignty of this land and we never shall". The former Acting Chairperson of NACCHO, Dr Naomi Mayers, CEO of Australia's oldest community controlled Aboriginal medical service in Redfern, Sydney and a Yorta Yorta woman said the High Court's decision was a wicked and destructive decision. "It is no wonder we have no faith in the white man¹s justice system," Dr Mayers said. "This decision will affect the health and well-being of all surviving Yorta Yorta people. How dare the High Court rule that we have lost our culture, lost our knowledge. My grandmother had her children taken away so our family has suffered the consequences of being a part of the Stolen Generation and the consequences of that impacts intergenerationally, " Dr Mayers said. "But I have never lost my culture or my identify as a Yorta Yorta woman. That is who I am," Dr Mayers said. "Tell my 92 year old aunty who lives in the Aboriginal Community Elders Nursing Home in Brunswick, Melbourne, and who played a major part in helping prepare a book and a CD on the Yorta Yorta language that she has lost her culture. How dare anyone so rule". Dr Mayers said she agreed with ATSIC Chairman Geoff Clark that the Aboriginal peoples had to reject the current native title regime and fight for justice. "I think all thinking Australians can see the injustice that has been perpetrated on Aboriginal people," Dr Mayers said. "We are still hurting. We have no justice. "The time is now right for Governments to strive to find a way to deliver justice to land claimants outside of the current restrictive native title regime". Ms Anderson said the High Court decision was particularly hurtful given the links between land and health. "Land is an economic base from which we can tackle the poverty many of our communities suffer. And land is also vital for our emotional and spiritual well-being". Ms Anderson concluded by applauding the Yorta Yorta for their courageous struggle for land and justice. "I remain confident that one day justice will be done, not just for the Yorta Yorta, but for all Aboriginal peoples of Australia". Brack's Government won't seek costs from Yorta Yorta Media Release 18 December, 2002 - The Bracks Government will not seek to recover costs from the Yorta Yorta community following last week's native title decision in the High Court of Australia, Attorney-General Rob Hulls announced today. "The Government is keen to move ahead with our negotiations with the Yorta Yorta people currently being independently chaired by former Queensland Royal Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald QC," Mr Hulls said. "Now is the time to put behind us years of painstaking litigation and work with the Yorta Yorta to negotiate a positive outcome that addresses Yorta Yorta aspirations." On December 12, the High Court dismissed with costs an appeal by eight members of the Yorta Yorta against a 2001 Federal Court decision to uphold a 1998 ruling that its native title rights had not been proved. The Victorian Government opposed the High Court appeal because it would change the legal definition of native title. "In its submission to the High Court the Government argued that, irrespective of the outcome of the Yorta Yorta matter, no costs orders should be made," Mr Hulls said. "That submission was consistent with Section 85A of the Native Title Act, which states that each party to a proceeding must bear their own costs unless the Federal Court orders otherwise. In the Federal Court neither the Yorta Yorta nor the State of Victoria sought costs. "It should be noted that there's also little to be gained from the Government seeking costs since most if not all of each parties' costs are publicly funded. "The bottom line is that it's time consuming, costly and futile to attempt to litigate native title claims through the courts because the long history of dispossession makes it difficult for Indigenous people to meet the high standards of proof required for a native title determination. "That's why the Bracks Government is committed to negotiate, rather than litigate, native title matters. We believe that much can be achieved by way of negotiation. Where a native title determination can't be reached, we are seeking to negotiate agreements to achieve viable outcomes with Indigenous Victorians." Mr Hulls said the Bracks Government was committed to resolving native title claims. "The Bracks Government has committed $7.6 million towards the mediation of native title issues. And we have released Guidelines for Native Title Proof in Victoria a document that maps out a clear and cooperative approach to the mediation of native title land claims," Mr Hulls said. Media release from The Victorian Government
Press Release 28 January 2002 - Nearly 1000 Yorta Yorta people and others attended a weekend event that proclaimed the survival of the Yorta Yorta people. After their Native Title claim was rejected by the High Court in December 2002, the Yorta Yorta Nation called on supporters to attend a Survival Weekend in the Barmah Forest on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26th January. In spite of hot weather, over 150 non-Yorta Yorta people attended a Sunday morning "supporters" workshop to develop the following statement. "We supporters of the Yorta Yorta Nation, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, give our thanks to the Yorta Yorta for inviting us to their country. We recognize, without qualification, the sovereignty of the Yorta Yorta people over their land and waters. We recognise that the Yorta Yorta people and their culture is strong and alive. We refute any notion of a so-called 'tide of history' having eliminated their sovereignty and culture. The non-Indigenous people here particularly express our deep sorrow, shame and anger that our colonial, imposed legal system has insulted and continues to attack the people of the Yorta Yorta Nation . We reject as absurd the proposition that a 'European' court can meaningfully determine the extent and nature of the connection that Yorta Yorta people have with their land. The Barmah-Millewa region always was and always will be Yorta Yorta land. We reject as a betrayal of truth and fairness that the written words of one pastoralist should be given precedence over the oral testimony of over 60 respected members of the Yorta Yorta Nation. We call upon governments - federal and state - to acknowledge that that the amended Native Title Act works against the interests and concerns of Indigenous people and, after genuine negotiation with Indigenous people, to amend or abandon it in favour of a system which produces just outcomes for the Yorta Yorta people and for Indigenous peoples in general. We call upon the state Labor governments of Victoria and New South Wales to recognize the sovereignty of the Yorta Yorta Nation, immediately return the crown land they have claimed and properly resource the Yorta Yorta Nation to enable further negotiations. We express our solidarity with the Yorta Yorta nation and with all the Indigenous nations of Australia in the fight for land rights and social justice and we commit ourselves to that fight. No so called tide of history will stop our tidal waves of resistance." Media release from Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (Victoria) Inc
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its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
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Senator Aden Ridgeway, Democrats Senator for New South Wales
