CENTRAL LAND COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT 2016–17 CENTRAL LAND COUNCIL Creative Commons licence With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and where otherwise noted, all material presented in this report is provided under a http://creativecommons.org/licences/byl3.0/licence. The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/byl3.0/legalcode. The document must be attributed as the Central Land Council Annual Report 2016–17. Third party copyright for publications This organisation has made all reasonable effort to: • clearly label material where the copyright is owned by a third party • ensure that the copyright owner has consented to this material being presented in this publication. ISSN 1034-3652 All photos Central Land Council, unless otherwise credited. 20 September 2017 Senator Nigel Scullion Minister for Indigenous Affairs Senate Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Dear Minister In accordance with the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, the Native Title Act 1993 and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, I am pleased to approve and submit the 2016-17 Annual Report on the operations of the Central Land Council. I am authorised by the Central Land Council to state that the Accountable Authority is responsible under section 46 of the PGPA Act for the preparation and content of the report. Yours faithfully Mr Francis Kelly Chair Central Land Council CLC ANNUAL REPORT 2016–17 1 OVERVIEW OF THE CLC Chair’s report 3 Director’s report 5 About the CLC 7 CLC executive committee & council members 17 CLC governance 20 Organisation structure 23 Performance report 24 OUTPUT GROUP 1 27 Land & natural resource management 1.1 Permits 28 1.2 Land & natural resource management 30 OUTPUT GROUP 2 42 Land claims & acquisition support 2.1 Land claims 43 2.2 Land acquisition 44 OUTPUT GROUP 3 45 Economic development & commercial services 3.1 Land use agreements 46 3.2 Employment, education & training 51 3.3 Mining 60 3.4 Commercial assistance 71 OUTPUT GROUP 4 74 Advocacy services 4.1 Public awareness & education 75 4.2 Advocacy & representation 79 4.3 Cultural & heritage support 87 4.4 Community development support 90 OUTPUT GROUP 5 101 Administration & support services 5.1 Distributions 102 5.2 Administer land trusts 103 5.3 Dispute resolution 106 OUTPUT GROUP 6 107 Native title Native title 108 CORPORATE MANAGEMENT 117 Annual performance statement 126 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 129 GLOSSARY 189 COMPLIANCE INDEX 192 2 CLC ANNUAL REPORT 2016–17 CHAIR’S REPORT I can’t remember a year so packed with big anniversaries: 50 years since the Wave Hill Walk Off that kicked off THE CLC OF OVERVIEW land rights, 40 years since the Aboriginal Land Rights Act Francis Kelly changed the power relations in the Territory forever, and 25 years since the High Court’s Mabo judgement exposed the lie of terra nullius and brought us native title. We celebrated the anniversaries at a joint council Springs in July. I was listening to our senior policy meeting with the Northern Land Council at Kalkaringi officer Josie Douglas who was part of the panel, our in August and marched on Freedom Day together delegate Barbara Shaw who challenged the panel with hundreds of people from all over the region and about the ongoing hurt the Intervention has caused, beyond, including the families of Vincent Lingiari and and my sister-in-law Valerie Patterson from Lajamanu Eddie Mabo. community who asked about bilingual and bicultural Mr Lingiari’s son, Timmy Vincent, joined us a few education. weeks later in Alice Springs when we launched the Valerie is an experienced teacher, language worker, first Vincent Lingiari Art Award at the Our Land Our and member of the Warlpiri Education and Training Life Our Future exhibition. When the winner, Marlene Trust (WETT), the best hope for our young people Rubuntja, recovered from her shock she told us she in the Tanami region. She was fresh from a WETT made her sculpture My future is in my hands to show meeting that morning that had talked about a review that she is strong. She also wanted to honour her of the first 10 years of this successful community father, the first full-time CLC chair, Wenten Rubuntja. development program and begun to plan for its next We had plenty of other reasons to celebrate. During decade. She stood up and described how a lack of the past 12 months, families travelled to five native support and respect is driving Yapa school staff away. title determinations over country that has nurtured Then she asked what it would take for the education their ancestors for tens of thousands of years. I shared department ‘to work side by side with us, and their joy at Victory Downs near the South Australian respect our language and culture being taught in our border in June, when Justice Reeves handed down community schools’. a consent determination over the second-largest It was the kind of question we ask all the time. determination area in our region. It’s been a big year Governments keep making policies for us, not with for native title, but there were other records. us. We have heard many fine words from the new Never before did our communities invest so much NT Government about regaining our trust by giving of their mining compensation income in community us control over community housing and jobs in driven development. Between them, nine Tanami construction, but things are moving as slowly as a car communities allocated more than $7 million in that needs a bush mechanic. We hear this car can’t be projects, many of them designed to support our fixed without Canberra. young people and strengthen our culture. I am My neighbours in Yuendumu still crowd too many pleased that half of the decision makers on the people into too few houses and our school kids still community-based committees that prioritise and plan miss out on a good night’s sleep. We got some rushed these projects are women. repairs in late 2016, after we threatened to take legal I felt particularly proud of our women as I sat in action and went to the media, but the repair and the audience of the ABC’s Q&A program in Alice maintenance services out bush have not improved. CLC ANNUAL REPORT 2016–17 3 Francis Kelly meets with custodians at Karlu Karlu/ Warren Snowdon (left), Francis Kelly and Tony Devils Marbles to discuss the desecration of the Burke share a joke at the 2017 ranger camp at sacred site. Ross River. Housing was a big deal in the last Territory election angry after individuals desecrated their sacred site in and our people again threw out a government that April and a video of it was widely shared on social had failed to deliver. It is time we woke up and and national media. I wrote to the Aboriginals Area realised how powerful we are when we take political Protection Authority, asking it to take legal action action together. against those responsible. AAPA promised to do all Our campaign for more ranger funding is a good it can to bring them to justice but the elders are still example. Minister Scullion said that the Federal waiting. Government would fund our Ranger Program until We can’t wait for the NT and Federal governments 2020 and, for the first time, the NT Government to stop pointing the finger at each other, and get is also contributing. Federal Labor has promised to on with removing dangerous asbestos from our double ranger funding if it wins the next federal communities. In Yuendumu we have used our election. This was not lost on our rangers who hosted compensation income from The Granites gold mine Shadow Environment Minister Tony Burke at their to set up the Yapa Kurlangu Ngurrara Aboriginal annual ranger camp at Ross River in May. Corporation, a business that employs local people I was proud to join Anangu elders as they took back to look after outstations, and carry out recycling and control of Mutitjulu in March. When we first talked contract work. The business is keen to clean up the about our new model for community township asbestos but sadly has been unsuccessful in getting leasing in Canberra in 2010 neither side of politics the Aboriginals Benefit Account to fund this urgent took it seriously. Seven years later there were smiles all work. This is just one example of why the ABA needs around and everyone was ready to sign up to a new reform. As we agreed at Kalkaringi, the land councils kind of lease that puts the community in the driver’s are working together to develop a better model that seat. will shift control of the fund from the minister to Aboriginal people. Watarrka traditional owners taught us two good lessons about why it pays to be united and never Also at Kalkaringi, our members made it very clear give up. They have fought against plans for mining that jail is the wrong answer for our young people and fracking in Watarrka (Kings Canyon) National when they get in trouble with the law. They are not Park since 2012 and even took their campaign to safe there. I spoke about my grandson who sported Canberra. In June, the NT Government banned a black eye when I visited him in juvenile detention mineral and energy exploration and mining in the and he told me that the prison guards are too rough. park. The families also spoke up in the media about We know from our successful Mt Theo project that the Kings Canyon Resort’s plans to bring in poker the solutions lie at home, on country, where we can machines.