Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, let me acknowledge the contributions by the member for Barton, the member for Grey and the member for Isaacs and commend them for their contributions. I'll say to the member for Grey that I know well the country he talks about, having worked out of the Petermann Ranges for a number of years, starting in 1978. It was an interesting time. But I can attest to the beauty of that country and the desire of the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara people to be self-determining and to make their own decisions. I therefore suggest to the honourable member that he should raise his concerns about the economy of the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara country with the elders and the community leaders and have a discussion with them about what he thinks.

I thank the member for Barton, and I will come to the issues around the flag a little later. I do want to make an observation about the contribution from the member for Isaacs. Like him, I have a history with this part of the Northern Territory. As you would know, Mr Deputy Speaker Gillespie, I was first elected to this place in 1987. I had cause this morning, I don't know why, to look at my first speech. In it I talked about the sorts of issues being addressed by the member for Barton and the member for Isaacs—that is, the need to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights, the rights of our First Nations people. In that speech, I raised the issue of constitutional recognition, to which the member for Isaacs has referred.

There is no question that this government needs to raise the bar, and to do the things that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people around this country want them to do to address the Statement from the Heart. It's not much of a stretch to see where the First Nations Voice should be, and there must be a voice. There needs to be constitutional recognition, there needs to be truth-telling and there needs to be a treaty. That is a position at the heart of Labor Party policy.

I go to the issue of the Jabiru area and the Mirarr people. The member for Isaacs referred to the Fox inquiry. Mr Deputy Speaker, it may surprise you to learn that in 1976 I visited what was a trial pit for the then Ranger Uranium Mine—which subsequently came to be the Ranger Uranium Mine—and made submissions, not to the inquiry but in public advocacy, around the need to protect that part of the world from uranium mining. I was opposed to uranium mining then and I am opposed to the nuclear industry now. The Aboriginal people came to an agreement with the Commonwealth around uranium mining in the area which we know as Kakadu, and the adjacent land, and, as the member for Isaacs referred to, the Fox inquiry made certain recommendations, most of which were adopted by the then government. Part of that was that, in the 1980s, a town was required to service the new Ranger Uranium Mine. That town is in Kakadu National Park on land leased from the Director of National Parks to the Jabiru Town Development Authority. The impact of the legislation we're talking about today will see in 2021, when that lease expires, land being leased to an Aboriginal entity run by the Mirarr for their purposes, to develop the township and the economic and social benefits that can be derived from it for the whole of western Arnhem Land, but principally in the first instance for the traditional owners.

It's worth noting that in 2007 the Australian government amended the land rights act by introducing section 19A to provide for the leasing of townships on Aboriginal land to the Commonwealth statutory officer the Executive Director of Township Leasing for a period of 99 years. This scheme was funded by the Aboriginal Benefits Account, which is a statutory fund set up under the land rights act from mining royalty equivalents. This money, some of which was derived out of the Ranger royalty equivalents, was then diverted through this arrangement by the Commonwealth to the Executive Director of Township Leasing for his purposes. In October 2009 the government, under the then leadership of Kevin Rudd, amended the land rights act for the scheduling of Aboriginal land so that a grant could be made to an Aboriginal land trust in Jabiru, conditional on its leasing the land back to the Commonwealth or the Northern Territory government in the form of a township lease. From that time until 2016 the Northern Land Council, on behalf of the Mirarr traditional owners, sought unsuccessfully to negotiate and execute a lease with the then NT government. In 2015 the then Country Liberal Party government formally withdrew its support for that proposed option. In 2016 the NLC recommended negotiation with the Australian government for the Commonwealth option, utilising a section 19A lease. The NT government resumed talks after the election of the Gunner government in August 2016.

As the member for Isaacs said, in 2013 the land rights act was amended to provide for, among other things, shorter term leases than 99 years and for township leases to be held by an approved community entity instead of only by the Executive Director of Township Leases. These changes represented a new policy approach by the Commonwealth but did not apply to the Jabiru provisions as the NT option was still being pursued at the time.

Then, in collaboration with all stakeholders, the Mirarr traditional owners developed the Jabiru Masterplan 2018-2028, which set out a vision for the future of the town after the imminent cessation of its current mining lease function. Towards the end of 2018 the Australian government, the Northern Territory government, Energy Resources of Australia and the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation negotiated a memorandum of understanding on the future of the Jabiru township, which states all parties commitment to the vision and master plan of the Mirarr traditional owners of Jabiru and to establishing Jabiru as Aboriginal land. That's what this bill will do.

This bill will fulfil the vision of the Mirarr traditional owners to have that land as Aboriginal land, to set up an entity which is controlled by them to which the land can be leased for the purposes of the township. This will provide ongoing surety to all sorts of economic and business interests around Jabiru and make it a central point in western Arnhem Land for services, but, obviously, primarily for its tourism and relationship to Kakadu National Park.

It's important to understand that relationship and to understand that it's a mutually beneficial relationship that will mean in the longer term the whole of the Australian community will be deriving an important benefit from this bill. Mr Deputy Speaker Gillespie, I understand that I'm about to be shut up, and that I can continue at some subsequent time.

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