Return to Main MenuThis figure is certain to grow. In the current climate of uncertainty following the Mabo and Others v The State of Queensland decision (1992) and in the wake of the Native Title Act, 1993 all vacant crown land, Occupied Crown Land, ie National Parks, and Crown Leasehold Land, ie pastoral (farming properties) are under threat.
The latter, farming properties, are attracting the bulk of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land claims. These properties have had many years, in many cases generations, of work and financial investment put into them and, as such, are of immense value, both in terms of the properties' monetary worth and the potential for continued financial gains which those properties yield.
Now the menace of land takeover is spreading like a cancer to attack family homes. In what is expected to be a native title test-case, four Aboriginal families have laid claim to the home of an elderly couple in Western Australia. Fred and Jean Grubb (aged 66 and 60 respectively) may be forced from their home of 42 years following the acceptance of the claim against their home by the National Native Title Tribunal in 1995 - just one week before the Grubb's leasehold on the land became freehold. The case has the potential for grave consequences for all non-Aboriginal Australians.
(*It must be pointed out that since this research was first commissioned, pressure has been brought to bear regarding the Grubb's case. Sequentially, the claim against their property. However, the threat to other non-Aboriginal Australians is still very real.)
Furthermore, many of Australia's waters, particularly along the coast of Queensland - including the Great Barrier Reef - and associated islands also have native title claims against them
In 1994 (most up to date figures were available) land was acquired for Aboriginal communities under land acquisition and maintenance and the Regional Land Fund. During that year, 45 properties were bought for $17.3m, of which approximately 30% was spent on pastoral properties.
Aboriginal organisations own (up to 1994) the staggering total of 77 cattle stations (prolific through the Northern Territory and Kimberley region), making those organisations the largest holders of pastoral property in Australia. This figure does not include land owned by individual Aboriginals.
The most disturbing thing about this vast land acquisition is that there is repeatedly no accountability or record of it! No list showing the extent to which Australian taxpayers - having provided the funds for most of these purchases - are still paying for the maintenance of the stations and the communities on them.
Many continue to require on-going investment to rebuild fences, bores, dams, farm equipment and restocking. This last point is the real financial killer. These expenses can be several times the original price of the station itself.
Worse still is that no records are available for any of the stations, even though they were, and are, financed from the public purse.
These organisations are established under Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act, 1976, which operates under a corporate mechanism, making them immune from public scrutiny.
Taxpayers scrutinising ATSIC accounts have no way of knowing,
(a) how much has been spent buying stations,
(b) how much is spent maintaining them,
(c) what kind of future funding they require to make them financially viable, or
(d) what their present status is.
What also complicates the publics right to know what public money is going where, is the bewildering duplication of Aboriginal schemes run by various Federal Government Departments, State governments, ATSIC, and numerous Aboriginal groups.
Education is a prime example. The Department of Education, Employment and Training (DEET) runs five programs targeting Aboriginals, ATSIC runs one, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission runs three, and the Attorney-General's Department runs another.
Following the money trail and getting a handle on the extensive overlap in expenditure, duplication of services and lack of accountability is nigh impossible. By the time you unravel the red-tape and follow the "pass-the-buck" line to get someone who knows about where the money has gone, you have forgotten why you asked the question!
But the fact that we (the taxpayers) are continuing to foot a multimillion dollar bill is reason enough to continue demanding answers.
Return to Main Menu