Walton, Alastair --- "Victoria's Affairs" [1985] AboriginalLawB 12; (1985) 1(12) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 18

• Victoria’s Affairs

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Victoria’s Affairs

by Alastair Walton

The Victorian Government's Aboriginal Affairs Discussion Paper, for September 1984, was released to signal the last round of negotiations for Aboriginal land rights. The following is a brief account of the paper.

The aim of the paper is to get the' last' impressions of the updated proposals of the Aboriginal Land Claims Bill, 1983 (Appendix A of the Report), which has been retitled the Aboriginal Affairs Bill.

Basically the introduction to the paper discusses its purpose, Government policy and its implementation. The report continues with an account of other proposals under consideration. These are Aboriginal land rights, the Victorian Aboriginal Council, the Aboriginal Land Act, 1970 amendments, and Aboriginal Heritage legislation.

In accordance with the section of Government policy that recognises the Victorian Aborigines should receive compensation for their spiritual, cultural and economic losses, due to dispossession, a Reference (Appendix B of the Report) was given to the Parliamentary Social Development Committee.

The subsequent inquiry into "Compensation for Dispossession and Dispersal of the Aboriginal People".by the Social Development Committee has resulted in a report.being delivered in October last year. At this stage the AboriginalLB's copy has just arrived and it is not possible to comment on the comprehensive paper, but it shalll be the subject of an article in the next AboriginalLB. (For copies I suggest contacting the Victorian Government Bookshop, which is noted in the news section).

In relation to the Aboriginal Affairs Bill, the report has a text of the Bill in a 'question' and 'answer' format.

Important changes to the Bill have occurred since it was introduced into Parliament in March 1983. Since then the Bill has had a renaming, a Preamble added (significantly more sympathetic than the NSW Act), an inclusion of Objects, a clear statement that private land cannot be claimed, details of the Victorian Aboriginal Council, the Land Claims Tribunal Membership extended to three, appeals against the Tribunal can be made to the Victorian Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the controls over mining rewritten.

The outcome of the bill willl be closely tied to what happens in Western Australia and federally in relation to the uniform land rights package.

Other points that should be considered are that it does not cover fishing, hunting and foraging rights and the power that rests in the Governor-in-Council. The Council is a forum between the Governor of Victoria and any two Ministers. They have the power to change schedules, to elect members of the Land Claims Tribunal, set the Tribunal's pay and conditions, make regulations for the Tribunal in respect to; practice and procedure; prescribing of forms; dealing with royalties, and generally prescribing any matter or thing required for the purposes of the Act.

In addition, the form of appeal from the Land Claims Tribunal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal is novel and needs further consideration before any comment. However, that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal should become involved with Aboriginal land claims, which is a complex, specialised area, and politically sensitive, may lead to further complications.

There are several groups of Aboriginal organisations opposed to the present format offered and several for it. Overall, the opposition is directed at the Aboriginal Council. because it is not an initiative from the Aboriginal community but a concept derived from the ALP and the State bureaucracy.

Compared to the Seaman Report, the Western Australia Land Inquiry, the Victorian Paper is a weaker document, both in recommendations and format. This comparison may be seen as not possible due to various State factors,.but they weree both released at the same time making comparisons inevitable.

While considering the Victorian paper it was reported in the newspaper that a new program called "The Australian Business Report" was being broadcast on a U.S. and Canadian Cable T.V. network with 18 million subscribers. The 10-minute program is an "economic update" and the Victorian Government was a main sponsor of this new video.

Of significance though, is the content of the news bulletin which was described as "tending to plug the program's sponsors and court the mining industry".

The luscious carrot dangled in front of the mining industry was the "good news on the Government's (Federal?) decision not to implement uniform land rights legislation".

Whatever this may mean to Victoria's Aborigines I do not know,. but it seems like another poor showing from the 'sponsors' if nothing else.