❓ A WA parliament question regarding the implementation and benefits of the South West Native Title Settlement Agreements after registration by the National Native Title Tribunal. The Minister's answer outlines the process, benefits, and historical context.
AnsweredQoN 797Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
NATIVE TITLE SETTLEMENTS
797. Mr S.A. MILLMAN to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs:
I refer to today's landmark decision by the National
Native Title Tribunal to register all six of the south west native title
settlement agreements.
(1) Can the
minister advise the house of the process now going forward in implementing all
six agreements?
(2) Can the
minister outline to the house how the settlement will benefit the Noongar
community, which has worked incredibly hard to see it progress?
797. Mr S.A. MILLMAN to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs:
I refer to today's landmark decision by the National
Native Title Tribunal to register all six of the south west native title
settlement agreements.
(1) Can the
minister advise the house of the process now going forward in implementing all
six agreements?
(2) Can the
minister outline to the house how the settlement will benefit the Noongar
community, which has worked incredibly hard to see it progress?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Mount Lawley for the question.
(1)–(2)
With the member's background in native title, he is no doubt very aware
of the significance of today's announcement by the National Native
Title Tribunal to register all six of the south west native title settlement
Indigenous land use agreements. I guess, to a certain extent, it is rare that
this happens. This process has had bipartisan support for a long time. I hope
all members in this house can appreciate the significance of today's
decision by the National Native Title Tribunal. Once the process has run its
course, with any potential judicial processes that may or may not happen from
here on in, this will without doubt be the most comprehensive native title
agreement in Australian history. Indeed, I will go so far as to say that it is
the closest we have come to a treaty being entered into between a state
government and a traditional owner group—the Noongar people. This
package, with social, economic and cultural outcomes for the Noongar people,
will be, I think, over the generations, significant.
I remind everybody that next year
it will be 20 years since the Single Noongar Claim started its process. Twenty
years is a long time. The settlement negotiations began in about 2009 and were
resolved in 2015. If we were not finished with the South West Aboriginal Land
and Sea Council then, we put it through a process of a High Court challenge and
then amendment to the Native Title Act through the commonwealth Parliament. To say that it has been anything but a smooth
journey would be an exaggeration. But the leadership of the Noongar community
and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council in particular, including
those who are no longer with us, need to be congratulated for their
determination.
This
will involve benefits to some 30 000 Noongar people over about 200 000 square
kilometres in the south west of Western Australia. All members will recall that
we had a debate in here in the last term of government that saw the passage of
the Noongar (Koorah, Nitja, Boordahwan) (Past, Present, Future) Recognition
Bill that recognised the Noongar people as the traditional owners of the south west
of Western Australia. The six Indigenous land use agreements—the
Ballardong agreement, the South West Boojarah agreement, the Wagyl Kaip and
Southern Noongar agreement, the Whadjuk agreement, the Yued agreement and the
Gnaala Karla Booja agreement—have now been registered. There is a 28-day
period in which an appeal effectively to the Federal Court can take place. If
that takes place—I expect, hopefully, that it will within the next six months—that will finally be
resolved. I am confident that it will survive any potential court challenges.
A question was put to me by the media
today. I note that some people are out the front of Parliament House today.
This has been a contentious period of conversation amongst the Noongar people.
There are people out the front today who still oppose this settlement. With the
judgement of Justice Wilcox that effectively led the government to the
negotiation process and now to here, the question was put: would the Noongar
people have been better off with the Wilcox judgement proceeding or with the
settlement and the six ILUAs that have now been registered? I think
undoubtedly, because of the passage of history, the Noongar people bore the
brunt of colonisation, and the alternative tenures that cannot co-exist with
native title means that the package—some $1.3 billion and over 300 000
hectares of land—is by far a better package. It is more generous and is
more equal to the Noongar people than if we had followed the Wilcox model that
would have seen, to be frank, the vast majority of native title in the south
west extinguished in any event by the passage of history.
I want to congratulate the Noongar
people. I want to thank all members of Parliament in consecutive Parliaments
who have worked hard to deliver to the people of Western Australia, not just
the Noongar people, an example of how native title negotiation can work and
deliver to the Noongar people what I think will be, when we look back in
history, one of the most, if not the most, significant native title settlements
in this country.
(1)–(2)
With the member's background in native title, he is no doubt very aware
of the significance of today's announcement by the National Native
Title Tribunal to register all six of the south west native title settlement
Indigenous land use agreements. I guess, to a certain extent, it is rare that
this happens. This process has had bipartisan support for a long time. I hope
all members in this house can appreciate the significance of today's
decision by the National Native Title Tribunal. Once the process has run its
course, with any potential judicial processes that may or may not happen from
here on in, this will without doubt be the most comprehensive native title
agreement in Australian history. Indeed, I will go so far as to say that it is
the closest we have come to a treaty being entered into between a state
government and a traditional owner group—the Noongar people. This
package, with social, economic and cultural outcomes for the Noongar people,
will be, I think, over the generations, significant.
I remind everybody that next year
it will be 20 years since the Single Noongar Claim started its process. Twenty
years is a long time. The settlement negotiations began in about 2009 and were
resolved in 2015. If we were not finished with the South West Aboriginal Land
and Sea Council then, we put it through a process of a High Court challenge and
then amendment to the Native Title Act through the commonwealth Parliament. To say that it has been anything but a smooth
journey would be an exaggeration. But the leadership of the Noongar community
and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council in particular, including
those who are no longer with us, need to be congratulated for their
determination.
This
will involve benefits to some 30 000 Noongar people over about 200 000 square
kilometres in the south west of Western Australia. All members will recall that
we had a debate in here in the last term of government that saw the passage of
the Noongar (Koorah, Nitja, Boordahwan) (Past, Present, Future) Recognition
Bill that recognised the Noongar people as the traditional owners of the south west
of Western Australia. The six Indigenous land use agreements—the
Ballardong agreement, the South West Boojarah agreement, the Wagyl Kaip and
Southern Noongar agreement, the Whadjuk agreement, the Yued agreement and the
Gnaala Karla Booja agreement—have now been registered. There is a 28-day
period in which an appeal effectively to the Federal Court can take place. If
that takes place—I expect, hopefully, that it will within the next six months—that will finally be
resolved. I am confident that it will survive any potential court challenges.
A question was put to me by the media
today. I note that some people are out the front of Parliament House today.
This has been a contentious period of conversation amongst the Noongar people.
There are people out the front today who still oppose this settlement. With the
judgement of Justice Wilcox that effectively led the government to the
negotiation process and now to here, the question was put: would the Noongar
people have been better off with the Wilcox judgement proceeding or with the
settlement and the six ILUAs that have now been registered? I think
undoubtedly, because of the passage of history, the Noongar people bore the
brunt of colonisation, and the alternative tenures that cannot co-exist with
native title means that the package—some $1.3 billion and over 300 000
hectares of land—is by far a better package. It is more generous and is
more equal to the Noongar people than if we had followed the Wilcox model that
would have seen, to be frank, the vast majority of native title in the south
west extinguished in any event by the passage of history.
I want to congratulate the Noongar
people. I want to thank all members of Parliament in consecutive Parliaments
who have worked hard to deliver to the people of Western Australia, not just
the Noongar people, an example of how native title negotiation can work and
deliver to the Noongar people what I think will be, when we look back in
history, one of the most, if not the most, significant native title settlements
in this country.
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