Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to speak in relation to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Scheduling) Bill 2024. The effect of the bill would be to add an area of vacant crown land near the Aboriginal community of Canteen Creek to part IV of schedule 1 of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. As we've just heard, this bill resolves the Wakaya Alyawarre land rights claim and would allow the land to be granted to an Aboriginal land trust as inalienable Aboriginal freehold land. In order for this agreement to be completed, the Commonwealth parliament must directly amend the land rights act.

The initial agreement was between the Central Land Council and the Northern Territory Labor government. Following the recent election in the Northern Territory, we have consulted with the new CLP government in relation to the proposal and the government is supportive of this bill being passed. The Northern Territory government has advised that, if passed, the bill would not have any impact on pastoral interests. Further, it poses no issue to mining or energy interests. We recognise this bill will provide certainty to both the Northern Territory government and the township. In this regard, we note that housing and commercial development projects often require land lease terms which are significant in length in order for the project to proceed. If this bill is successful—which we believe it will be—it will allow for this kind of development and investment in the region.

Despite the fact that there are benefits to this bill, we are concerned that the Albanese government refused to refer this bill to a committee for further examination. When the bill was introduced in the Senate, the coalition requested that it be referred to the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee. The Albanese government's refusal to refer this bill to the committee was, in our opinion, a wasted opportunity. The reality is that the land rights act, which is amended by this bill, has been in operation now for nearly 50 years and is in need of review and revision. This bill provides a timely opportunity to examine whether the land rights act remains fit for purpose. It provides an opportunity to consider whether it still serves in the interests of Indigenous Australians to the furthest extent possible or whether it could be more effective.

The land rights act provides a unique opportunity for Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory. It should be a springboard for wealth, health and improved quality of life. However, the reality is that Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory are not the most advantaged in the country, far from it. In fact, some Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory are our most disadvantaged, most marginalised and most vulnerable.

This is a point the coalition often raises when addressing Indigenous disadvantage in this place—that our focus needs to be where the gap is, in fact, the greatest. We know that three per cent of the Australian population is Indigenous, but it is only around 20 per cent of that total which is actually marginalised. But the situation in the Northern Territory is particularly bad. The 2024 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework reveals that Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory experience the greatest area-level disadvantage compared with other jurisdictions around Australia. The disparity is concerning, given the opportunity that the land rights act provides for this to not be the case. It demonstrates that things are not working the way they should be for our most vulnerable and marginalised Indigenous Australians.

This is just one reason why revisiting the operation of the land rights act would have been beneficial in this case. An examination of the land rights act would also have been important because of its role in governing Northern Territory land councils. We believe the operation of land councils is, in large part, causing traditional owners in the Northern Territory to be land rich but dirt poor. The councils often make it functionally impossible for land to be utilised for economic development. We are seeing lease processing times of up to 666 days in some land councils, which is simply unacceptable. However, not all land councils have these problems. Therefore, we know it would be possible for things to be better if the legislation were actually reviewed. Further, we believe that some of the larger Northern Territory land councils are hindering opportunity in the community.

Despite the Territory having comparable wealth due to its resources, the Northern Territory only sees a fraction of the mining and energy projects that a place like Western Australia has. The Northern Territory should be more like Western Australia than the ACT, due to our environments and resources, yet this simply isn't the case in the Territory at the moment. Again, this is why the reference of this bill to a committee would have been a beneficial step.

If we want to empower Indigenous Australians to achieve economic independence and to stand on their own two feet, we need to be willing to examine the existing structures like the land councils. If those structures aren't able to be effective and efficient, they shouldn't exist. But the kneejerk type responses which we see time and again from the Albanese Labor government, which simply create more layers of government, just aren't going to cut it. These are some of the most powerful and important decision-making bodies in the Northern Territory, and this bill could have ensured the land councils were examined if it, in fact, had gone to a committee for review.

The truth is that opportunity abounds in the Northern Territory, and that opportunity should be used, and could be used, to improve the situation of the most marginalised Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory, who live in highly disadvantaged areas at a greater rate than those in other parts of the country. But the Albanese government shut the chance of that down when it refused to refer this bill to a committee. Therefore, while the coalition does support this motion, we feel it is necessary to have highlighted these points about the need for the land rights act to be revisited as a matter of urgency for the sake of our most marginalised Indigenous Australians.

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