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Wednesday 26 May 2004, Media Release

NSWALC WELCOMES REVIEW OF ACT

The New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council has welcomed the State Government's announcement of a taskforce to investigate an overhaul of the NSW Aboriginal land council system.

The land rights legislation has now been in place for more than twenty years and is clearly in need of re-examination.

We welcome the acknowledgment from the Deputy Premier and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Dr. Andrew Refshauge, that the land council system has delivered enormous benefits to Aboriginal people in its two decades of operation.

NSWALC is committed to ensuring improved economic, social, political, and cultural outcomes for Aboriginal people in NSW.

We have worked assiduously in recent months to ensure our core financial base as a self sufficient statutory authority continues to grow.

Prudent financial management has ensured NSWALC's Statutory Investment Fund now sits at over $520million. NSWALC has been able to finance its operations this financial year without accessing interest from the fund.

We are also putting in place a major regional restructure to streamline our services to the land council network.

We have recently taken steps to ensure the effective and efficient management of our rural properties. A stock replacement program is now underway in tandem with preparation for wheat crops on two properties.

NSWALC shares the Minister's concern and that of Aboriginal communities about the constant appointment of investigators and administrators to the local and regional land council network.

NSWALC has taken a number of steps to rein in the rising cost of such appointments and looks forward to using the review to highlight those and to consider other measures which may be available to build capacity across the land council network.

We particularly welcome the Minister's public commitment to a democratic and representative structure for Aboriginal people in NSW through the land council system.

This commitment will not be lost on the many Aboriginal people in NSW and around Australia who are currently defending the right of our people to maintain and reform democratically elected structures rather than see them abolished.

NSWALC Administrator
Murray Chapman.

NSWALC Chief Executive Officer
William Johnstone