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Wednesday 30 May 2007, Media Release

A NEW BEGINNING FOR NSWALC

The State’s peak Aboriginal organisation, the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council, today elected its new Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson.

A Worimi woman, Councillor Bev Manton, who has had a long and active involvement at all levels in the land rights system, was elected Chairperson.

Councillor Tom Briggs, a Gumbainggir man, was elected Deputy Chairperson.

Both Councillors were elected at the first meeting of the newly elected Council in Sydney today.

Chairperson Manton has been involved with NSWALC since its inception and is a founding member of Karuah Local Aboriginal Land Council. She worked as the co-ordinator at Karuah LALC for four years before being elected to NSWALC, along with eight fellow Councillors, on May 19.

Born and bred in Karuah, she has been married for 40 years to “her main supporter,” husband Kevin. They have four children and nine grandchildren.

“I’m humbled, honoured, and excited to have been elected to this position,” she said today.

“My fellow councillors and I have been elected at a crucial time in the history of land rights in New South Wales. We have an enormous responsibility to our people and are determined to ensure we deliver,” she added.

“There have been significant changes to the system through the recent amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (1983) and enormous changes to NSWALC during the period of administration which ended with the election of Council two weeks ago.

“I was actively involved as a member of the Northern Alliance (of Local Aboriginal Land Councils) in making a positive contribution to those amendments,” she said.

“I have also closely watched the developments at NSWALC in recent years and I want to acknowledge, on behalf of Council, the positive contributions made to the operations of the organisation by the former NSWALC Administrator, the late Murray Chapman and his successor, and former NSWALC Chief Executive Officer, William Johnstone.

“I also want to acknowledge on behalf of Council the building blocks put in place by the former Council under the leadership of its then chairperson, Les Trindall and all those who worked before them to build land rights in NSW.

“The new Council is looking forward to working over the next four years with, and on behalf of, Aboriginal people, their organisations, the State Government and other major stakeholders to improve the economic, social and cultural outcomes for our people, both for this generation and those to come.”

Chairperson Manton said NSW Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Paul Lynch, spent more than an hour with the Council at its first meeting today.

“The Minister made it clear he was looking to developing a constructive working relationship with the Council to improve outcomes for our people,” she added.

“He agreed that this was a new beginning for all of us and we are now in the middle of the biggest changes in land rights in New South Wales since the Act was first proclaimed in 1983.”

Chairperson Manton said she looked forward to working with the new Deputy Chairperson, Councillor Briggs.

“Tom and I are both actively involved in our communities and have had a long and productive association in seeking to build the skills and capacity of our people, particularly at both the local and regional level,” she said.

“We both believe that the new Council has to hit the ground running. We have much to do and look forward to the challenge.”

Media Contact: Paul Molloy 0419 690 926