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LAND RIGHTS

Nick Byrne explains it thus ...

Problems often arise when people who have always lived under controlled legislative well- documented Torrens type systems of land title, or chattel ownership, attempt to draft legislation which tries to encapsulate the protection of a philosophy, a religion or a belief, unwritten laws and intangible definitions of ownership by verbal descriptions such as "this is my land" or "this is my country".
The matter is further complicated when those who instruct the legislators have motives of a political nature which are not always in the interests of the people whose interests the legislation its trying to protect, nor the interests of the Australian population at large.
The first Commonwealth Legislation which directly addressed the matter of Land Rights, or the residual rights which Aboriginal people held in the Territory, was the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. The most immediate impact was that Aboriginal Reserves, such as the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve, created when Aborigines were wards of the State, were immediately converted to Aboriginal freehold. I think that these represented about 15% of the Territory. Any other vacant land was available for land claim by those with a traditional affiliation to the land claimed.
The legislation was drafted by the Federal Labor party under Gough Whitlam but was introduced by the Liberal government under Malcolm Fraser.
The Land Rights Act was presented to the Territory as a fait accompli, without any regulations or instructions as to how the act might work. Nobody had a clue how to implement the Act, not even the government who introduced it.
The original Labor draft legislation provided for unalienated Crown Land and pastoral leases to be claimed, but the legislation which was ultimately passed by the Fraser government limited the land which could be claimed to unalienated land or land in which all of the equity was held by Aboriginal interests.
Land successfully claimed under the Land Rights Act becomes Aboriginal freehold with the titles being issued under Northern Territory law.
About 48% of the Territory is Aboriginal freehold or is under claim and about another probably 45% is pastoral land. A sunset clause in the Land Rights Act did not end the ability to claim land, but claims made after the 5th of June 1997, could not be dealt with under the Land Rights Act.
Land Councils are the bodies created by and designated under the Land Rights Act to represent claimants and the Traditional Owners (TOs). All agreements for access to Aboriginal land must be entered into with a Land Council representing the Traditional Owners, not with the Traditional owners directly.
The strength of the Land Rights Act is the power of veto which it gives to the Land Councils and the Traditional Owners.
The first exploration agreement under the Land Rights Act was signed in 1986, ten years after the legislation was introduced. Some reasons for the time taken in achieving the first agreement were, the difficulty in interpretation and implementation of the badly drafted legislation, philosophical opposition to Land Rights by some members of the mining industry and the community, and philosophical opposition to mining by some employees in the Land Councils.
Today, agreements under the Land Rights Act are commonplace, but the lack of exploration for a decade on some of the most prospective ground in Australia was a significant setback to the development of the Territory at a time when the demand for minerals was strong and prices were high.
However that is in the past and we can now look forward with confidence to exploration and development of new discoveries made on Aboriginal Freehold land.

LAND RIGHTS Nick Byrne explains it thus ... Problems often arise when people who have always lived under controlled legislative well- documented Torrens type systems of land title, or chattel ownership, attempt to draft legislation which tries to encapsulate the protection of a philosophy, a religion or a belief, unwritten laws and intangible definitions of ownership by verbal descriptions such as "this is my land" or "this is my country". The matter is further complicated when those who instruct the legislators have motives of a political nature which are not always in the interests of the people whose interests the legislation its trying to protect, nor the interests of the Australian population at large. The first Commonwealth Legislation which directly addressed the matter of Land Rights, or the residual rights which Aboriginal people held in the Territory, was the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. The most immediate impact was that Aboriginal Reserves, such as the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve, created when Aborigines were wards of the State, were immediately converted to Aboriginal freehold. I think that these represented about 15% of the Territory. Any other vacant land was available for land claim by those with a traditional affiliation to the land claimed. The legislation was drafted by the Federal Labor party under Gough Whitlam but was introduced by the Liberal government under Malcolm Fraser. The Land Rights Act was presented to the Territory as a fait accompli, without any regulations or instructions as to how the act might work. Nobody had a clue how to implement the Act, not even the government who introduced it. The original Labor draft legislation provided for unalienated Crown Land and pastoral leases to be claimed, but the legislation which was ultimately passed by the Fraser government limited the land which could be claimed to unalienated land or land in which all of the equity was held by Aboriginal interests. Land successfully claimed under the Land Rights Act becomes Aboriginal freehold with the titles being issued under Northern Territory law. About 48% of the Territory is Aboriginal freehold or is under claim and about another probably 45% is pastoral land. A sunset clause in the Land Rights Act did not end the ability to claim land, but claims made after the 5th of June 1997, could not be dealt with under the Land Rights Act. Land Councils are the bodies created by and designated under the Land Rights Act to represent claimants and the Traditional Owners (TOs). All agreements for access to Aboriginal land must be entered into with a Land Council representing the Traditional Owners, not with the Traditional owners directly. The strength of the Land Rights Act is the power of veto which it gives to the Land Councils and the Traditional Owners. The first exploration agreement under the Land Rights Act was signed in 1986, ten years after the legislation was introduced. Some reasons for the time taken in achieving the first agreement were, the difficulty in interpretation and implementation of the badly drafted legislation, philosophical opposition to Land Rights by some members of the mining industry and the community, and philosophical opposition to mining by some employees in the Land Councils. Today, agreements under the Land Rights Act are commonplace, but the lack of exploration for a decade on some of the most prospective ground in Australia was a significant setback to the development of the Territory at a time when the demand for minerals was strong and prices were high. However that is in the past and we can now look forward with confidence to exploration and development of new discoveries made on Aboriginal Freehold land.