Beacroft, Laura --- "News: WA Land Rights -- Not Just around the Corner!" [1987] AboriginalLawB 31; (1987) 1(26) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 12

• Wa Land Rights – Not Just Around The Corner!

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WA Land Rights – Not Just around the Corner!

by Laura Beacroft

The proposed 1985 land rights legislation for WA failed in the upper house. In early 1986 the Commonwealth government abandoned the Preferred National Land Rights Model. At the same time Minister Holding announced the WA government had agreed to a special arrangement including:

• the State will provide secure title to Aboriginal reserves by way of long term leases for a minimum of 99 years;
• forty-five other reserves under the control of the State department of Community Services will also be transferred to Aboriginal control;
• the acquisition of further land is to be the subject of discussion between the Commonwealth and the Western Australian Government;
• the States will accelerate the process of providing excisions from pastoral leases for living areas for Aborigines;
• in conjunction with the churches, the State will continue facilitating the transfer to Aboriginal people of mission lands used for Aboriginal purposes;
• Aboriginal groups in the Kimberley will benefit from the proposed restructuring of the pastoral industry in that region of Western Australia following financial assistance from the Commonwealth;
• the Commonwealth is offering additional funds averaging $10 m a year, for a five-year period, to match the State's efforts under this new program.

Eighteen months later and very little progress has been made. At the recent Kununurra conference on 'Development in the East Kimberleys', Aboriginal participants emphasised the urgency of transferring title for pastoral excisions (some have had claims filed since 1974) and finalising leases for reserve land.

An spokesman, in the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, at the conference confirmed that nothing was preventing the WA government from transferring title to the pastoral excisions. He said that all reasonable patience had been shown, the Minister Holding would probably be seeking a meeting with the WA government in the near future.

Meanwhile a legal officer from the Pitjantjatjara Council, Richard Bradshaw, has already isolated legal problems with the proposed transfer of reserves. Under the terms of the Trust that presently holds the reserves, a transferal can only be made if the State Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and the Aboriginal Planning Authority of WA are parties. He proposes the government provide for more adequate land rights in WA by allowing claims of unalienated land under the Real Properly Act for freehold tithe, or under the Land Act for fee simple as in Queensland. The AboriginalLB will report in mare detail about the situation in the next issue.