CENTRAL LAND COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT 2018–19 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 Creative Commons 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 2018–19. 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. 19 September 2019 Minister for Indigenous Australians Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP 19 September 2019 PO Box 6022 HouseMinister of forRepresentatives Indigenous Australians ParliamentHon Ken Wyatt House AM, MP CanberraPO Box 6022 ACT 2600 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Dear Minister In accordanceaccordance with with the the Aboriginal Aboriginal Land Land Rights Rights (Northern (Northern Territory) Territory) Act Act1976 1976, the (Cth),Native the Title Native TitleActDear 1993 ActMinister 1993and the and Public the Public Governance Governance and Accountability and Accountability Act 2013 Act, I 2013am pleased (Cth) (the to approve PGPA Act), Iand am submit pleased the to 2018 approve-19 Annual and submit Report the on Annual the operations Report 2018–19of the Central on the Land operations Council. of the Central In accordance Land Council. with the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, the Native Title IAct am 1993 authoris and edthe by Public the GovernanceCentral Land and Council Accountability to state thatAct 2013the ,Accountable I am pleased Authority to approve is Iresponsibleand am submit authorised theunder 2018 by section the-19 CentralAnnual 46 of theLandReport PGPA Council on Act the forto operations statethe prep that arationof the the Accountable Central and content Land Authority Council.of the report is responsiblein accordance under with sectionthe Commonwealth 46 of the PGPA Authorities Act for (Annualthe preparation Reporting) andOrder contents 2011. of the report in accordance I am authoris withed bythe the Commonwealth Central Land CouncilAuthorities to state (Annual that theReporting) Accountable Orders Authority 2011. is Yoursresponsible sincerely, under section 46 of the PGPA Act for the preparation and content of the report in accordance with the Commonwealth Authorities (Annual Reporting) Orders 2011. Yours sincerely, Sammy Wilson CHAIR Sammy Wilson CHAIR CLC ANNUAL REPORT 2018–19 1 OVERVIEW OF THE CLC Chairs’ reports 3 Director’s and CEO’s reports 5 About the Central Land Council 7 Performance report 14 Annual performance statement 16 CLC executive committee and council members 21 CLC governance 24 CLC organisational structure 25 OUTPUT GROUP 1 27 Land and natural resource management 1.1 Permits 28 1.2 Land and natural resource management 29 OUTPUT GROUP 2 40 Land claims and acquisition support 2.1 Land claims 41 2.2 Land acquisition 42 OUTPUT GROUP 3 43 Economic development and commercial services 3.1 Land use agreements 44 3.2 Employment, education and training 47 3.3 Mining 54 3.4 Commercial assistance 62 OUTPUT GROUP 4 65 Advocacy services 4.1 Public awareness and education 66 4.2 Advocacy and representation 69 4.3 Cultural and heritage support 75 4.4 Community development support 78 OUTPUT GROUP 5 89 Administration and support services 5.1 Distributions 90 5.2 Administer land trusts 92 5.3 Dispute resolution 95 OUTPUT GROUP 6 96 Native title Native title 96 CORPORATE MANAGEMENT 107 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 113 GLOSSARY 141 COMPLIANCE INDEX 144 2 CLC ANNUAL REPORT 2018–19 CHAIRS’ REPORTS FRANCIS KELLY My last year as the chair of the Central Land Council started on a sombre note. In August 2018, we gathered at Yurrkurru Sammy Wilson (left) and Francis Kelly outstation near Yuendumu with the families of the victims, survivors and perpetrators of the 1939 Coniston Massacre to and watch the confidence of individual rangers grow year after commemorate the 90th anniversary of what many of us call ‘the year. I only wish the program itself, arguably one of the most killing times’. successful Aboriginal employment initiatives the Australian As we remembered our lost loved ones and listened to the Government has ever funded, was allowed to grow as well. apologies of former NT police commissioner Reece Kershaw and the descendants of Constable George Murray I wondered if the The demand for ranger jobs continues to outstrip the number assembled politicians would consider our requests. of positions we are able to offer and there are still so many communities without a ranger group. I know Mr Wilson will We asked them to support a national public holiday similar to take up the fight for more and more secure jobs for Aboriginal ANZAC Day, for interpretive signs at massacre sites, and for rangers because he knows that nobody protects our country our frontier history to be taught in our schools. That we never better, and few career paths in our communities motivate more heard back about our requests following the event shows how children to come to school. far we still have to go as a nation when it comes to the Uluru Statement’s call for truth telling. SAMMY WILSON One organisation we can always count on to put our stories, cultures and languages first is the Warlpiri Education and The Central Land Council is a big, important organisation and as Training Trust. The WETT’s advisory committee made us all very its chair I recognise the knowledge of the past delegates and the proud when they won the Indigenous Governance Awards in important work they have done, work that I intend to continue. 2018. The committee and educators across the Tanami region I thank my predecessor, Francis Kelly, for his leadership over the are pushing ahead with the development of a Yapa curriculum past six years and his support following my appointment. called ‘the Warlpiri theme cycle’. Mr Kelly has a really good sense of humour and made meetings One of the earliest supporters of the trust, CLC director David enjoyable. He also showed a lot of respect to us delegates, the Ross, announced his retirement after four decades with the staff and the governance processes of the land council. I wish land council. Over the years we talked a lot about his succession him all the best for his next adventures as a film maker. and his decision, while no surprise, set the executive a steep My job now is to look forward. challenge: to find a respected leader capable of filling his very big shoes at the helm of one of the country’s most formidable One of my first meetings was with Australia’s first Aboriginal Aboriginal organisations. cabinet minister and Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, in June in Darwin. Mr Wyatt was really supportive of As a member of the subcommittee in charge of recruiting a what our CEO, Joe Martin-Jard, policy manager Josie Douglas new CEO I believe we were right to take our time to find that and I said to him, and I think he wants to help us move forward. special person. Joe Martin-Jard started as CEO in February 2019 When he goes back to Canberra, however, you see that his and took over the reins from Mr Ross at his and my last council message has changed a bit when he is speaking from Canberra. meeting at Yulara Pulka, two months later. That is why we also need to have our voices heard in the capital. I has been a great pleasure to work closely with Mr Ross during my two terms as the chair. At Yulara Pulka, one of his many Some people ignore us because they haven’t understood that prominent admirers described him as a “man of great integrity, even though we might look as if we are 150 years behind the of great honesty and great respect” and I could not agree more. modern world that does not mean that we are uneducated My successor Sammy Wilson can look forward to receiving the people. They tend to disregard us because they think we only same support and excellent advice from Mr Martin-Jard that I have a child’s understanding of the way things are. That is not got from Mr Ross over the past six years. the case. We have a lot of knowledge about our country and our affairs and we deserve respect. One of the highlights of my time as chair has been to observe the development of our ranger program. As the father of a The process started with the 1967 referendum, when I was a ranger the program has been close to my heart and there can young child, but we need to keep moving forward like that, not be nothing better than to attend the CLC’s annual ranger camp just for our sakes but for the sake of everyone in Australia so CLC ANNUAL REPORT 2018–19 3 “You never know whether the little boy or the little girl you are taking on your tour and teaching about your culture may grow up and be the leader of the country one day.” Sammy Wilson on tour near his homeland at Uluru. that our rights are recognised and respected. We need to have We want more support so we can become a much bigger our voice heard in Canberra and in the constitution. presence in tourism, so that we can really share our cultures.