Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to put on record a success story for Indigenous people in the Northern Territory and particularly the Larrakia people, who live in and around Darwin. It is without doubt a very good news story which deserves to be known about. There are many good news stories about the operation of Indigenous people and their activities in the Northern Territory.

Let me embark on putting on Hansard just one of them this evening for the pleasure of those who might be listening to us. The Larrakia are known as the Saltwater People, naturally enough because their land is in and around Darwin Harbour. They are the traditional owners of the area of Darwin city, Palmerston and the surrounding land around the harbour including Wagait beach and the Cox Peninsula. There are about 2,500 Larrakia living in and around this area. They have established a business organisation through the Northern Land Council, the Larrakia Development Corporation. It is the business arm of the NLC, in much the same way that Centrecorp Foundation is the business arm of the Central Land Council. They have done so independent of government funds and the organisation remains strictly for business. When the Larrakia Development Corporation needs money to buy land or to fund development it borrows from the bank on a commercial basis, just as any other business in this country does. Profits are then put back into further developing the business. It has no reliance, and never has relied, on government financial assistance.

The Larrakia Development Corporation is chaired by the eminent and well-respected senior Larrakia person in Darwin, Koolpinyah Barnes. The CEO of the Larrakia Development Corporation is Greg Constantine, who heralds from a number of major corporations in Darwin and has come to that organisation with considerable business expertise and acumen.

Established only as recently as 2002, the Larrakia Development Corporation operates within the terms of a strict trust and adheres to strict corporate governance guidelines. To date, this has played a big part in its success and has ensured that corporate requirements are met. The Larrakia people now have four subsidiary companies established to carry out different businesses, but they are all linked and work together across many of their projects. Those companies are Larrakia Homes Ltd, Saltwater Constructions Northern Territory Pty Ltd, Larrakia Environmental Services Pty Ltd and Cox Peninsula Enterprises Pty Ltd. These companies provide not just training, job opportunities and careers but also give the Larrakia people a voice in the future development of their land. In fact, they have played a significant role in the development of the city of Palmerston.

Larrakia Homes have a busy building program for the next few months. They have recently completed an 11-townhouse complex and are working on 12 duplexes in the new suburb of Lyons in Palmerston. They also have a contract to build 40 homes for Defence Housing Australia by the end of June 2010—an Indigenous company, based in Darwin, now building 40 homes for Defence Housing Australia. Since incorporation in 2006, Larrakia Homes have won the 2007 Spec Home of the Year award and various others, such as awards for best kitchen and best bathroom and a commercial construction award for the community centre project at Lyons, which is a magnificent establishment in the northern suburbs of Darwin.

Saltwater Constructions Ltd is a steel fabrication, construction and property maintenance business. It plays a major part in assisting Larrakia Homes and other builders who require steelwork. Larrakia Environmental Services enable people to be actively involved in the landscaping business. They have the contract for this kind of work along the new Tiger Brennan Drive in Darwin and will use plants from their nursery on the Cox Peninsula. Their workers largely come from the Larrakia Development Corporation job ready training program. They also did most of the landscaping work in the suburbs of Darla and Lyons, which are two new developments in the Darwin and Palmerston region. This business also has a turf farm at Palmerston.

Cox Peninsula Enterprises run the only bus service between the Mandorah ferry, the Wagait community and the Belyuen community. There was a gap in services there. The Larrakia Development Corporation saw that gap and stepped in to fill it—nothing huge, but of great benefit to the community, as there are regular ferries every day between Mandorah and Darwin and several kilometres between the communities of Wagait and Cox Peninsula and the ferry. The service helps to provide a shorter, cheaper link to Darwin for workers who come across the harbour each day—and there are many of them—and for shoppers. Cox Peninsula Enterprises also have a permit to harvest cycads over a 600-square kilometre area of the peninsula, and these are grown in their own nursery and used in the landscaping business.

So all four subsidiaries work in together in various ways, providing building and landscaping materials and transport. If you are a visitor to Darwin or Palmerston, you will appreciate and understand the extent of what I am talking about. Darla and Lyons are new suburbs in Darwin and Palmerston. They are ordinary, everyday suburbs, like the ones you find in major cities around the country, and this Aboriginal business has played a significant role in establishing and developing those suburbs.

In addition to having its own subsidiaries, the Larrakia Development Corporation forms partnerships with other major companies, which will provide employment for Aboriginal people. Very recently, the corporation signed an agreement with Inpex, the oil and gas giant soon to be setting up in Darwin. It signed an MOU which will guarantee jobs for Aboriginal workers on the $12 billion gas project. Signed in partnership with the Northern Land Council, this agreement means that the LDC and the Northern Land Council will use their local knowledge to assist Inpex in designing a jobs strategy specifically for Indigenous workers.

The Larrakia Development Corporation have secured a stake in the Darwin tourism and hospitality industry by acquiring a half-share in two new Darwin hotels: the Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront and the Medina Grand Darwin Waterfront. They have done so in conjunction with IBA. This opens up new training and employment opportunities for the Larrakia people in tourism and hospitality.

In a stand to help protect the Cox Peninsula, the LDC has also taken it upon itself to independently fund and appoint two rangers to the area. They patrol the area in a four-wheel drive vehicle and, together with assistance from the Belyuen community and CDEP workers, they look out for any vandalism and keep beaches clear of fishing nets and recreation areas clean of rubbish.

The Larrakia Development Corporation has big plans ahead for when the Kenbi land claim is finalised and signed off. The Kenbi land claim has been a long-running matter. It was thought to have been finalised early in 2009 when the LDC, the Northern Land Council and the NT government signed an in-principle agreement which would allow the Larrakia people, through the corporation, to develop certain sections of the Cox Peninsula. It will be the next major development for the Darwin harbour area. Some 15,000 hectares will be held as Territory freehold, to be managed by LDC for commercial development, and 52,000 hectares will become communally held Aboriginal land, managed in a similar way to Arnhem Land.

The Department of Finance and Deregulation has pointed to the need for extensive due diligence work to be done prior to being able to determine tenure of these sites and to protect Commonwealth interests. It is sincerely hoped that this will be carried out as a matter of urgency, to finalise this land claim after so many years and to allow the Larrakia people, through their development corporation, to further develop parts of their land as they choose, for the betterment of the people. The signing of the Kenbi land claim now awaits a decision from the Commonwealth Department of Finance and Deregulation, which has interests in some sections of the Cox Peninsula and other areas. One of first projects proposed for the area by the Larrakia Development Corporation is a seniors home for Larrakia.

Over the past seven years, the Larrakia owned and controlled corporation has established four subsidiary business companies; has undertaken multimillion dollar building, fabricating and landscaping contracts; has trained and employed local people; and has signed employment and training agreements with several other major businesses. One of the silent and unrecognised huge success stories in this country is the development of Darwin and Palmerston by local Larrakia Indigenous people. The Larrakia Development Corporation are a proactive, forward-looking Indigenous organisation. They are to be congratulated and should be recognised nationally for their continuing progress. This is indeed a good news story from Darwin. (Time expired)