The Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) (as amended) and the subsequently established NSW Aboriginal Land Councils which are actively usurping the resources of traditional owners/custodians in the sale of their land and control of cultural heritage matters are an impediment on the federal native title process.
Critics of the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs could also claim collusion and nepotism are rife within the land rights and cultural heritage systems and there is little monitoring to prevent it. At the present time many local Aboriginal land councils are closed shops, selling off lands and heritage for short-term profits. There is an urgent need for a bipartisan agreement in the NSW Parliament to amend the Act to remedy this situation; at the time of writing this paper the recent review does not facilitate this. Traditional ‘owners’/custodians need to be included on the executive committee of local Aboriginal land councils. This should not be a token appointment, and if these have to be legislated then so be it. Perhaps this is where self-determination is not working when such actions need to be legally enforced. Indigenous people should be working together without division or hatred. There should be respect for country and its inhabitants. What has evolved in Sydney is shameful.
As Moreton-Robinson comments, ‘questioning the integrity and legitimacy of Indigenous ways of knowing and being has more to do with who has the power and whether their knowledge is commensurate with the west’s rational belief system’ (2002: 3). The NSW Aboriginal land councils have power; this is undeniable under the 1983 legislation, and they have legitimacy within the west’s belief system. It is time that this power was dissipated into socially accepted interaction; we could do so much more working together in lieu of faction fighting.
There is need for a sale register to be lodged with the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs and maintained on an ongoing basis to protect the interests of the greater majority of NSW Indigenous people who are not members of Aboriginal land councils. All sales should be vetted by the Minister. This is not to take opportunities for self-determination away from Aboriginal people. Rather it is a necessary measure to protect the majority of Aboriginal people from the questionable actions of an enterprising few. This would ensure the cultural heritage of local Aboriginal people and traditional ‘owners’/custodians are not sold from underneath them.
Under Australian trust law, the following three institutions have a fiduciary responsibility to Aboriginal ‘owners’/custodians: the NSW Government, the executive of local Aboriginal land councils, and local government authorities within which Aboriginal land councils operate. Each has an important responsibility to remedy this situation before all of the land has been sold and the proceeds squandered.
The 1983 Act was purportedly established to improve the living conditions and life-chances of Aboriginal people in New South Wales and redress some of the hardships they have suffered as a direct result of their dispossession from their ancestral lands. The Act has now become less effective in achieving these aims. It needs urgent revision to correct the current injustices being experienced by some Aboriginal people in New South Wales. The recent amendments and review do not appear to have resolved the concerns expressed above.
In conclusion, Aboriginal people have suffered much over the generations; let us no longer continue to suffer, rather let us work together for the betterment of our people. This is my wish. Native title is a dream to the urban Koori; the Act effectively stole 25 000 acres of trust land away from Koori people and has given us 24 years of turmoil and hate. It is time to correct these issues and for Koori people once again learn to respect one another and live together as one in Eora pemul.