Gladys Liu (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Economic Empowerment) Bill 2021. The bill aims to empower Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory by activating the economic potential of their land. As the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon. Ken Wyatt, has noted, this is the most far-reaching set of reforms to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act since it was enacted in 1976. The first significant step taken by the bill is the establishment of the Northern Territory Aboriginal Investment Corporation. The corporation will be funded from the Aboriginals Benefit Account, which was set up under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act to receive and distribute funds equivalent to the royalties generated from mining on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory. With the Aboriginals Benefit Account reaching a value of over $1.3 billion due to the mining boom, the Morrison government is unlocking its potential, with this bill proposing to use its funds for strategic investment in Aboriginal businesses and commercial projects to grow wealth, create jobs and support sustainable Aboriginal economies in the Northern Territory for the benefit of future generations. Once established, the Northern Territory Aboriginal Investment Corporation will carry out this investment and payment function. It will receive an initial $500 million endowment and $60 million per year for the first three years of its operation, and subsequent yearly funding from the ABA. The new corporation will use this funding to invest in Aboriginal businesses and commercial projects like aquaculture, agriculture and tourism enterprises, and to support community projects like art centres and youth centres.

The bill also streamlines exploration and mining provisions in the land rights act. Current processes can be unnecessarily time-consuming and costly for all stakeholders, so these proposed changes are directed towards fixing problems identified in an independent review published in 2013. They create much needed clarity and will build confidence for industry and investors. But, critically, they also ensure that the rights of traditional owners are maintained. Finally, the bill proposes a package of land administration amendments which strengthen Aboriginal control over decision-making and address operational gaps. Among other things, these changes will result in a prescribed process by which a body may be nominated and approved to hold a township lease, improve the permit system for access to Aboriginal land and increase the penalty for unauthorised access. The bill rectifies issues that were brought to light in the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory worked successfully to protect their communities through remote travel restrictions. But it's not just what's in the bill that matters; it's how it was put together. These reforms have been extensively co-designed with traditional owners in the Northern Territory and the land councils over the last 3½ years. The co-design process and the intent of the reforms themselves put the government's Closing the Gap commitments into practice, through working in partnership with Aboriginal people and supporting strong economic participation and Indigenous people's relationship with their land and waters.

Furthermore, decisions about Aboriginals Benefit Account funding, which had previously been taken by the Australian government, will be taken by the Northern Territory Aboriginal Investment Corporation. The corporation will be led by a board of eight Aboriginal representatives from the Northern Territory, two government appointed directors and two independent directors appointed by the board. As a result, for the very first time an Aboriginal controlled body will be able to use funds derived from the ABA to strategically and proactively seize and generate economic and social investment opportunities. This emphasis on shared decision-making, just as much as the technical content of the bill, should be recognised and celebrated. I commend this bill to the chamber.

See this speech in context