Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor support the bill. I rise to speak to these amendments. The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Land Scheduling) Bill 2018 adds an area of land that is detailed in the Ammaroo Indigenous land use agreement—the Ammaroo ILUA, schedule 1 of the land rights act—so that the Ammaroo land can be granted as Aboriginal land. The agreement area covers about 193 square kilometres in the vicinity of Ammaroo Station, about 250 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs. So this bill allows that land in question to be granted to the relevant Aboriginal land trust under sections 10 and 12 of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act.

This bill is associated with the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment Bill 2017 which the House passed on Tuesday this week—19 February. The honourable member opposite will remember what the member for Lingiari said during his contribution when that bill passed. As he is not here, I just want to acknowledge his advocacy around pushing for this second bill with amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. As he said, it is a shame it's taken a year, but at least we are here. I thank the government and I acknowledge the member for Lingiari's advocacy. It's great the bill can be brought to a vote in this setting. There's no dispute about it. We agree on it. It is a shame that it hasn't come forward before today, but here we are.

I wanted to give those listening some sense of this land around Ammaroo. If you head north out of Alice Springs and then head out on the Sandover Highway, 200-odd kilometres north-east of Alice Springs you come to this area. It is absolutely incredible. It always has been Aboriginal land and now it is in legislation. It is a fantastic thing for people who live in that area to have that confirmed in law. I won't go into the history of the land rights act except to say it's an incredibly important and essential piece of legislation that should be protected.

I want to acknowledge, as the member for Hasluck did, all those stakeholders who have supported this movement. In my life prior to politics, I was taking health professionals out to communities in that region such as Utopia, or Urapuntja, and Ampilatwatja. It was a real privilege to be out on that country and be shown around and to be making a contribution to health services for the people of that region. This is the land we are talking about and the people who have a connection to that land.

I just wanted to bring alive this amendment somehow for those who are wondering whether it's important. Recently in Darwin I went to one of the Salon Indigenous art galleries in Darwin. They have some incredible artwork at the moment from this region that we are talking about. You can see some of it if you want to go to my Instagram. I put up one piece by Julieanne Morton. I actually remember meeting some of her family, the Morton family from Ampilatwatja, when I was there 10 or so years ago. It is an incredible piece. It gives you a sense of that land that this legislation is granting as Aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act for these people. This is from an elder and artist in that community. She says of that amazing piece of art, which talks about the bush medicine of this area:

The landscape changes during the different seasons in the year. I paint the dried flowers and bushes from last season as well as the new plants that come after the rain. These plants have special meanings and uses for us. I have been taught how to read the country, and now I teach my children these skills.

That's the artist, Julieanne Morton.

This region of Australia is special. Earlier in the week, we talked about lands in the Kakadu area being part of the lands—around 50 per cent of the lands of the Northern Territory—that are now Aboriginal land in law.

I'm very proud of our ongoing commitment to the people of this country and to the lands that the previous legislation this week incorporated under the act. I'm proud of our commitment to the Kakadu region and to showing regions like Ammaroo Station to the world. I thank all of those stakeholders who have supported this coming to the House. I also support all of those working with First Nations people on their country—organisations like Salon Indigenous Art Projects. They show that not only is economic development possible in these communities but it's possible in a way that celebrates the connection of First Nations people with their land, which is now enshrined for Ammaroo Station with this bill. I support the bill and thank the chamber for listening.

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