Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment Bill 2017 adds areas subject to the traditional land claims in the Kakadu region in the Northern Territory to schedule 1 of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976—the land rights act—so that the Kakadu land can be granted as Aboriginal land. The bill also provides for the leaseback of the same area of land to the Director of National Parks. The bill also adds areas in the town of Urapunga that are subject to the Township of Urapunga Indigenous Land Use Agreement to schedule 1 of the land rights act so that the Urapunga land can be granted as Aboriginal land.

The rightful return of these parcels of land to the traditional Aboriginal owners in the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory and in the Roper region in the Gulf of Carpentaria is so many years overdue. It's important to explicitly acknowledge in this place the long battle of traditional owners of this land to have their property rights recognised. First, in relation to the grant of Aboriginal land at Kakadu, I note that 3 November this year was the 40th anniversary of the signing of the lease for stage 1 of Kakadu National Park—the very first national park in Australia and an area of outstanding natural beauty and cultural and heritage values. The regulatory framework for stage 1 of Kakadu National Park was entirely novel in 1978. It involved the grant of Aboriginal land to traditional owners under the newly enacted NT Land Rights Act and the immediate leaseback of that land by those traditional owners to the Director of National Parks.

This model was revolutionary and has been utilised in many national parks in the decades since to underpin the joint management of parks and reserves throughout Australia. The outstanding ecological significance of Kakadu National Park is now recognised internationally, and it's inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list of cultural and natural outstanding values. Since that first lease was granted back in 1978, Kakadu National Park has been declared in stages. Stage 2 of the park was declared in 1984, and stage 3 was declared progressively in 1987, 1989 and 1991. Back in 1978, when then chairman of the Northern Land Council, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, signed the first lease for Kakadu National Park, no-one could have foreseen that it would take another 40 years for the outstanding traditional land claims within Kakadu National Park to be resolved so that the underlying tenure of much of the park could be returned to Aboriginal ownership. The scheduling of these parcels of land by this legislation is thus significant in the history of one of Australia's most spectacular areas, and the long-overdue return of these lands to traditional ownership will ensure that the joint management of one of Australia's icons can be enhanced into the future.

While the township of Urapunga does not hold quite the same place in the Australian national consciousness as Kakadu, the history of traditional owners' fights to have their rights over this land recognised is also significant. Urapunga is a tiny and tight-knit community about half an hour's drive from Ngukurr in the Gulf region of the Territory, between the banks of the Wilton and Roper rivers. In a strange quirk of Northern Territory history, Urapunga was gazetted as a town by the Northern Territory government in 1887. However, no development took place there. As anthropologist Howard Murphy has written:

… the township of Urapunga was to have as little impact on the land as a game of monopoly has on land values in Mayfair. The township of Urapunga was drawn up in abstract at a distance, divided into the grid system favoured in the planning of colonial cities, a miniature version of Melbourne and Adelaide.

While the town remained mythical, the act of gazetting it back in 1887 had distinct legal consequences. Specifically, the land in towns could not be claimed under the Northern Territory Land Rights Act, and this resulted in Urapunga being landlocked by other Aboriginal land, but it could not be claimed itself under that legislation.

After the passage of the Native Title Act in 1994, the traditional owners of Urapunga could finally lodge a native title claim over that town, and in 2001 the Federal Court recognised that they had exclusive native title rights over much of this area, except where native title had been extinguished. Following this court decision, the Northern Land Council negotiated with the Northern Territory government to have land in the township of Urapunga scheduled as Aboriginal land under the land rights act. This amending legislation is partly the product of those negotiations.

I'd like to take the opportunity to touch on the issue of the future of the township of Jabiru. The town is located within the borders of Kakadu National Park. The Northern Territory government and the Mirarr traditional owners, through their organisation, the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, have been working on a blueprint for the future of Jabiru for some time. Jabiru's future has been a concern for its residents and those who live and work in the World Heritage listed park due to its legislated closure as part of the shutdown of the Ranger uranium mine in 2021. The Gundjeihmi and NT government have a vision of turning Jabiru into a nationally and internationally recognised tourism destination. The Gundjeihmi-government masterplan proposes a mix of public and private spending on tourism and infrastructure projects for both Jabiru and Kakadu, including a new World Heritage interpretive centre and education precinct; a resource centre; new accommodation offerings, including a wellness centre, an eco-recreation hub, and a five-star lodge—with glamping, Acting Deputy President O'Sullivan; I know that interests you. The NT government has pledged to keep essential health and educational services in the town for another five years. The plan to bring new development to Jabiru and Kakadu will not only breathe life into the town and park; it will also bring significant benefit to the wider Northern Territory, stimulating tourist visitation, creating local jobs and strengthening the economy.

I congratulate all involved in the scheduling of this land as Aboriginal land. In particular I recognise the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land in both the Kakadu region and in the township of Urapunga for their patience and perseverance in realising their aspirations to have this land returned to their ownership.