Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about the changes that the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon. Ken Wyatt, announced at the weekend relating to much-desired amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, or ALRA, and the Aboriginals Benefit Account.

I was at the Barunga Festival on the weekend with Minister Wyatt; the acting Prime Minister, Michael McCormack; my fellow senator, Malarndirri McCarthy; the member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon; and the chair of the Northern Land Council, a long-time friend of mine, Sammy Bush-Blanasi. I would encourage those senators who have not been to the Barunga Festival to do so. Barunga is about 80 kilometres south of Katherine on the Central Arnhem Road. The community absolutely came alive with visitors from across the Territory and across Australia—from other communities as far away as Groote Eylandt and many tourists who were out to experience a piece of Territory and Indigenous culture. It was the perfect environment for such a substantial change to ALRA and the ABA.

There are a number of substantial gains as a result of the reforms. The aspiration of achieving home ownership is something that most of Australia—certainly all non-Indigenous Australians—take for granted. It would be unthinkable if government legislation stopped urban dwellers and the majority of Australia from fulfilling that type of dream. But that is exactly what those in remote Indigenous communities have had to face. For more than three decades, I've seen the impacts of legislative and administrative policies which have hamstrung opportunities in the Territory for Indigenous Australians, and that is why last weekend's announcement by Minister Ken Wyatt on changes to the ALRA to activate the potential of Indigenous land in the NT should be should be warmly welcomed by all sides of politics.

This coalition government, in consultation with the land councils, created a package of generational reforms. The reforms will empower Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory to maximise the economic future of their families and communities for generations to come, using funds from the $1.2 billion Aboriginals Benefit Account, or ABA. The ABA receives mining royalties generated from Aboriginal land in the Territory and has grown substantially, as I said, to more than $1.2 billion today. These funds are not contributed by the taxpayer. These are funds earned by Indigenous landholders in the Northern Territory from mining operations that they approve of on their traditional lands. A new body will be formed and will use the ABA funding to seize opportunities to invest in large-scale strategic initiatives such as agriculture, tourism, mining, processing and manufacturing—whatever they choose to do with the money that is theirs. This is in addition to continuing to make smaller grant payments available to support local communities and organisations. This new body will receive an initial $500 million and ongoing funding of $60 million per year to secure a sustainable economic future for generations of Indigenous Territorians. In addition, there'll be other reforms to the ALRA, including business certainty on Aboriginal land by strengthening community entity township leasing, and streamlining arrangements for exploration and mining licences, without lessening the controls by traditional owners. (Time expired)