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AAP Image The National Native Title Council pays tribute to extraordinary Yawuru Elder and leader Senator Patrick Dodson from Broome, Western Australia who yesterday announced his retirement from the Federal Parliament as a member of the Australian Labor Party and Senator for WA. A man who dedicated his life’s work to improving the lives of First Nations peoples with great strength, resilience and determination, Senator Dodson is well known as the “Father of Reconciliation” which he spent many years advancing while serving on the Council of Aboriginal Reconciliation in the 1990’s. As inaugural chairperson of the Yawuru PBC, executive Chairperson of Nyamba Buru Yawuru, and director of both the Kimberley and Central Land Councils, Senator Dodson has long been a staunch champion for the rights of native title...

The Indigenous peoples in Australia and Canada share a similar history marked by the dispossession of their lands and waters, the denial of their rights, systematic exclusion from the economy and from opportunities for wealth creation. This exclusion and marginalisation of Indigenous peoples from economic opportunities is an ongoing issue in both Australia and Canada. On Thursday 16 November 2023 in Gatineau, south western Quebec, Canada a unique international agreement between key Indigenous-led organisations in Australia and Canada that prioritises Indigenous collaboration and diplomacy is seeking to address the entrenched economic exclusion and lack of opportunity of Indigenous peoples in the two countries. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is being signed between key Canadian First Nations financial institutions – the First Nations Financial Management Board and the First...

The National Native Title Council (NNTC) is celebrating a groundbreaking agreement announced this week by the Tjiwarl people after 18 months of negotiations with the Western Australian Government to support their economic, social and cultural development. The agreement is called “Tjiwarl Palyakuwa: Tiiwa kuwarri yampa ngula”, which in Ngalia language means “A Tjiwarl Agreement: from the Past, for the Present and into the Future” and is the first Prescribed Body Corporate (PBC) led compensation claim. The comprehensive agreement includes, amongst other things, monetary compensation of over $25 million, the transfer of Crown land, rights over the Tjiwarl Conservation Estate, support for businesses, the involvement of Tjiwarl people in managing water on their Country and the protection of language and culture, including place names, cultural materials and indigenous cultural...

The National Native Title Council (NNTC) is urging for comprehensive policy reform in response to a new study released on Wednesday 19 April, that finds approximately 43% or an area of 50,000 km2 of new renewable energy and transmission infrastructure would need to be sited on the Indigenous Estate for Australia to get to net zero emissions by 2060. “The scale of clean energy infrastructure on Indigenous Estate predicted by the Net Zero Australia study calls for a re-conceptualisation of the role of First Nations in development,” says Jamie Lowe, CEO of the NNTC. The Net Zero Australia study uses data modelling to predict what Australia’s economic transition to net-zero emissions would entail, with respect to changes in land and sea use for renewable energy projects, jobs, capital...

The First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance applauds the new Federal Government’s new National Cultural Policy – Revive: that places First Nations communities at the heart of the nation’s cultural road map. Importantly, it is recognised the new cultural policy outlines a government commitment to introduce legislation to protect intangible First Nations knowledge and cultural expressions, including the harm caused by fake art. The First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance (FNHPA) draws attention to the $11 million allocated towards establishing a First Nations Languages Policy Partnership between First Nations representatives and Australian governments. One of the world’s fastest rates of language loss is in Australia, given until the 1970s previous government policies banned and discouraged Aboriginal people from speaking their languages. Indigenous languages in Australia comprise only 2% of languages...

The First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance (The Alliance) welcomes Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s announcement that delivers Australia’s most comprehensive reform of environmental law since the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) was first introduced. The Australian Government’s response builds on Professor Graeme Samuel AC’s recommendations in the Nature Positive Plan: better for the environment, better for business, as well as new information and opportunities, including the findings of the 2021 State of Environment report, outlining fundamental reforms to national environment law. Centre to the reform for the Alliance is the Government’s commitment to strengthening the EPBC, which operates to protect select Indigenous Cultural Heritage (ICH) through National and World Heritage listing process and introducing an enforceable First Nations Engagement Standard for proponents under EPBC. The...

In an historic meeting the Minister for Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek met with the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance (FNHPA) signing a crucial Partnership Agreement. Says Co-Chair of FNHPA and Ngalia Cultural and Community Leader Kado Muir “A commitment to co-design this important piece of legislation reflects a true partnership between First nations and the Federal Government. I commend the Minister, who, on behalf of the Federal Government joined with us, the FNHPA, to work together for real enduring change, setting new standards for cultural heritage protection now and into the future. We look forward to a new way of looking after our spiritual and cultural values, in a way that empowers and uplifts a shared enjoyment of this unique fabric of our collective identity...

The National Native Title Council (NNTC) fully supports NTSCORP in their stance against the proposed amendment to NSW Fisheries Management Bill, slamming the prejudiced proposal criminalising Aboriginal people’s cultural rights to fish. The new bill seeks to expand search powers and the definition of a premise to include a beach, trail, track, rock platform, and riverbank. Says Kado Muir, Chair of NNTC and Co-Chair of First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance “This conversation must always be based on the reality that First Nations are exemplars of sustainable hunting and fishing, as demonstrated over millennia. it is just not the physical acting of fishing or hunting, but the cultural significance of the way we do it and the cultural sharing to our family and community. This not only carries health...

For Australia to address the climate crisis by using land and seascapes to generate renewable energy or for carbon sequestration, it must be done in partnership with First Nations landowners who own or manage much of those resources. In September this year, in its Climate Change Act 2022 Australia’s new Federal Government legislated commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. With the government’s push towards Green Energy, in the clean energy transition the International Energy Agency has predicted that about 25 per cent of Australia’s land mass would need to be blanketed in solar panels and wind turbines to deliver global demand for green hydrogen by 2050 – of which will be on lands held under native...

A last minute extension to consultation on changes to the WA Government’s Land Administration Act is seen to be too little too late by uneasy traditional owners.  After a mere six-week public feedback period on proposed amendments, the State on Friday extended the feedback date an additional week to 19 August. The amendments allow for ‘diversification leases’, primarily designed to facilitate renewable energy projects on pastoral leases in remote regions of WA.  While many traditional owner groups agree these projects are desirable, there are suspicions that the diversification process simply facilitates freeing up of Crown land for big companies. Ngadju and Mirning Elder Les Schultz says “I am concerned these changes will be railroaded through. I am nervous this is a land grab for big companies. We definitely...

Today the National Native Title Council (NNTC) received notice that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC withdrew the High Court case against Mr Shayne Montgomery, which sought to overturn established legal precedent and give the Federal Government the power to deport Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are not Australian citizens from their own country. Mr Montgomery, whose visa has been reinstated, is now able to live safely with his family and community. Importantly, the High Court’s landmark decision in Love; Thoms stands and will remain undisturbed so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples cannot be deported from their own country. “Mabo found we had and continue to have an ongoing connection to this country that predates the assertion of British sovereignty by about 80,000-120,000 years,” says Jamie Lowe – Gundjitmara Djabwurrung man and...