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Sunday 28 September 2003, Media Release

This opinion article was sent to the Sydney Morning Herald. The Sydney Morning Herald dismissed NSWALC's request that it be printed in the interests of balance.

The New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council has profound concerns about the depth and quality of the Beauman report tabled in Parliament last week by the Deputy Premier and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Dr Andrew Refshauge.

We consider it to be fundamentally flawed.

I agree with the opinion expressed in the SMH editorial on Friday, 26 September that Dr. Refshauge should not hesitate to appoint an administrator to take control of NSWALC, "on the basis of the Beauman report."

It does not make pretty reading.

It is also hard to dispute on a simple reading of the report the editorial's assertion that "the purpose of appointing an administrator-ensuring that whoever sits on the board of the council knows how to run it-cannot be achieved by leaving matters as they are."

But, here's the rub.

Matters are not as they were.

The report does not reflect NSWALC as it is today.

We have moved on. Sadly, this is not reflected at all in the report.

A preliminary analysis by Council of the 300-plus page report has revealed major flaws and discrepancies in substantive material in the report.

We are carefully working our way through these as we prepare our formal written response to the Minister, due to be lodged by October 14.

It has been our intention to discuss these, in the first instance, with the Minister.

Given this newspaper's ongoing interest in the matter, however, I'll provide you one telling example to illustrate my point.

It concerns the investigator's key recommendation that the Minister sack the Council and appoint an administrator to take over all of its functions for a period of eighteen months.

Should the Minister be minded to act upon this recommendation he would, in our view, be acting unlawfully.

The legislative provisions for the appointment of an administrator to take over all of the functions of NSWALC, and the actions which must flow from this, are clearly set out in the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act (1983).

I'd suggest the Minister and the investigator have a close look at regulation 99 on the election of officers of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council following the appointment of an administrator.

It clearly states that for the purposes of Section 226 (2) of the Act, after the appointment of an administrator to administer all of the functions of NSWALC, the Minister must determine a date for fresh elections for councilors after consulting his appointee.

This must occur no later than 12 months after the appointment of an administrator.

This is one of numerous major concerns we have about this report, which has cost the NSW taxpayers the princely sum of one million dollars.

These concerns, although serious, are not the primary reason for our decision as a Council to unanimously call on the Minister to reject the proposed appointment of an administrator.

There are valid criticisms in the report and we will accept the majority of its recommendations.

We have not shied away from the valid criticisms made by the investigator in our public statements.

I have personally acknowledged, both before and after the release of the report, that there is much room for improvement in our track record.

I was, after all, elected to my position on a pledge of reform.

We have taken crucial steps to address the valid concerns expressed by the investigator in adopting and implementing a range of new governance policies and procedures.

Most importantly NSWALC has done so unanimously with a newfound sense of unity and purpose.

We have recently appointed a new Chief Executive Officer, Mr William Johnstone, who is widely respected in Aboriginal Affairs, at both the State and Federal levels.

Minister Refshauge has described Mr. Johnstone as a "Mr Fixit."

He has been at the helm of our administrative arm for a month and enjoys the respect and confidence of all councillors.

He is working closely with the elected arm to ensure our new corporate governance regime is fully adopted and observed and there is a clear demarcation-or separation of powers-between the elected and administrative arms at NSWALC.

We have provided the Minister with an undertaking that Mr Johnstone will report to him once a month on our operation..

In our view there is no need for an administrator to be appointed "to get the land council back on track," as claimed in a recent article in the Herald.

We are now on track and firmly united in our resolve to keep it that way.

There is nothing an administrator can do that we cannot do, and better, given our unique status elected representatives of the Aboriginal people of NSW if we continue to adopt and practice good governance.

What an administrator cannot do is to claim to have a mandate as an elected person to work to preserve, and improve, our land rights system.

We have that mandate and we are working to preserve and improve the economic, social and cultural outcome for our people.

Land rights in NSW is at a critical phase.

Our Council and CEO are passionate in their commitment to the objects of our Act and we remain committed to working with the State Government.

We are determined to bring about the changes in our policies and procedures that are required to ensure that NSWALC pursues the objects of land rights effectively and efficiently for the benefit of the Aboriginal people of New South Wales.