Speech by NSWALC Chairperson Bev Manton on Culture and Heritage

CMA Conference, Dubbo NSW
14^th May 2008

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Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that tonight we meet on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri Nation. I acknowledge and pay my respects to the traditional owners of this land.

I am honoured to be given the opportunity to speak at tonight's conference.

For me, the timing of this conference comes at a very apt moment.

I have just recently returned from New York where I and 40 other delegates from Aboriginal Organisations addressed the Seventh Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

It was an amazing experience.

In short, we delivered a strong statement to the World urging the Rudd Labour government to adopt the Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples.

To many of you, the United Nations in New York may seem a world away from the Dubbo RSL Club, but despite the vast distance - this gathering shares a few parallels.

I hear and see the same passion and initiative in many of those Aboriginal peoples and delegates who attended the UN as in the eyes and words of many of you here tonight.

Like the 40 Australian delegates, and the many other delegates from the First Nations of Canada, North American, Africa, the Arctic Circle or the Amazon Rainforest, you share a commitment and vision to work towards connecting our knowledge of caring for country to improving environmental outcomes on Aboriginal held lands and our involvement in the management and protection of Aboriginal objects and places.

And whether it's dealing with the local Government, the State or Federal Governments, or any government for that matter, you also want our people to be part of the solution on addressing Climate Change.

NSWALC as part of the UN Delegation had one simple message.

We applauded the prompt signing of the Kyoto Protocol by the newly elected Australian government and its stated intention to formally indicate its support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples in the near future.

Both we believe provide a platform for addressing climate change.

NSWALC believes that Climate Change raises distinct challenges for Indigenous peoples, our cultures and our lands and resources.

It poses a threat to the health, cultures and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples. This occurs in coastal and flood prone areas, salt inundation of freshwater supplies, changes to mangroves and fire regimes, coastal erosion and rising sea levels as well as for those Indigenous communities affected by long term drought and desertification, among other impacts.

A further major challenge in addressing climate change is to ensure that economic and technical resources are available to Indigenous communities to respond to the social and environmental challenges created by climate change.

Indigenous peoples in Australia own and manage a significant proportion of Australian land and waters, and thereby play a crucial role in climate change mitigation measures.

Australia's Indigenous Protected Areas and other indigenous owned or managed land covers 120 million hectares or roughly 16 per cent of Australia's land mass, much of it in remote parts of the continent. 

Our involvement is therefore critical to effectively responding to climate change.

NSWALC believes that all efforts to address climate change should:

Seek to maximize opportunities and involvement arising from climate change that are driven and developed by Indigenous communities;

• respect Indigenous cultural knowledge and law in the design of climate change measures; and
• ensure the full participation of Indigenous peoples in the design and delivery of measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change, so as to ensure that such measures do not contribute to the further dispossession of Indigenous people from our land and resources, or impact adversely on the cultural traditions, languages, traditional knowledge and traditional food sources of Indigenous communities.

And while our newest fight is to ensure that Indigenous perspectives on climate change are fully acknowledged, we have long battled on another significant front: the protection and ownership of our cultural heritage.

On June 10 this year, we will celebrate the 25^th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act. It is a significant milestone.

Back in 1983 when the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was first introduced into the NSW Parliament, the then Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Frank Walker noted that the law lacked an essential element of land rights legislation. 

This essential element was the protection and ownership of our cultural heritage.

Twenty-five years on, the responsibility for the protection and management of our cultural heritage lies largely with the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC), formerly the National Parks and Wildlife Service. 

There is no doubt that DECC do what they can to ensure a high level of Aboriginal involvement in the management and protection of Aboriginal objects and places.  

However, despite their best efforts Aboriginal cultural heritage continues to be destroyed.

For example, last year in the NSW Parliament, the Department of Environment and Climate Change estimated that since 1990 over 800 permits consenting to the destruction of our cultural heritage had been approved by the Director General.

All our efforts are needed to stem the destruction of our cultural heritage under the current regime in New South Wales. 

On a day-to-day basis NSWALC and Local Aboriginal Land Council are involved in the protection and promotion of cultural heritage in New South Wales.

This is achieved by Land Councils being involved in programs and activities concerning natural and cultural heritage such as site work and participating in cultural heritage surveys. 

Numerous Land Councils are involved in the joint management of culturally significance national park land.

Significant places like Mutawinjti National Park, Mt Grenfell Historic Site, Biamanga and Gulaga National Parks and Worimi Conservation Lands have been returned to Aboriginal ownership. 

Land councils hold title to the land on behalf of the Aboriginal owners and participate on Boards of Management responsible for the care, control and management of these lands.
One of those jointly managed national parks mentioned, the Worimi Conservation Lands, is very special to me.

As a Worimi woman it is my traditional lands.

I am also on the Board of Management for the Worimi Conservation Lands.

For those that are unfamiliar with the Worimi Conservation Lands it consists of three reserves; the Worimi State Conservation Area, the Worimi National Park and the Worimi Regional Park.

In February 2007, the NSW Government granted Crown lands at Stockton Bight to the Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council which would leased back these three conservation reserves to the Government - collectively named Worimi Conservation Lands.

This was the result of two years of formal negotiations between the Minister for the Environment and the local Worimi Aboriginal community.

It was the first time in NSW that a land claim has been resolved through agreement to grant lands to a local Aboriginal community by the creation of a publicly accessible conservation reserve.

As a member of the Worimi Nation and now as Chairperson of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, I am proud of the Land Council network's involvement in joint management of park.

It demonstrates and highlights the strength of the Land Rights system in NSW - a system that after 25 years is now in a robust position to provide benefits back to the whole community.

As at June 30, 2007 there were 15,580 land claims lodged by NSWALC on behalf of LALC's since 1983 but only 2211 claims granted.  Those claims equate to 82,050 hectares or less than one per of NSW's total land mass.

Our Statutory Investment Fund currently holds more than $650 million and today NSWALC does not rely on government funding and is financially independent in all its operations.

This fund supports the administration of the peak 9 member council and our statewide network of more than 120 Local Aboriginal Land Councils - I proudly note that fifty five per cent of LALC Board members across NSW are women. 

As a result of our strength, NSWALC late last year was also able to launch a $30 million education scholarship fund which will assist about 80 Aboriginal students of all ages this year.  Eventually grow up to 200 scholarships a year.

I anticipate that this initiative will evolve and grow in future years.

This scholarship, achievement and leadership scheme will provide opportunities for study at primary and secondary schools, higher learning institutions, colleges and universities

Awards under the scheme are open to all Aboriginal people in NSW, not just members of Local Aboriginal land Councils.

This $30 million education scholarship fund is our education revolution, and clearly states what NSWALC sees as an essential way forward for our people.

It is one of the most exciting and innovative programs to be announced in the 25 year history of land rights in New South Wales.

And to compliment the education scholarship fund,  the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council and the State Government announced earlier this month an historic agreement to improve the health and well being of Aboriginal men, women and children in former reserves and missions across the State.

Both parties have committed to more than $100 million for at least the next 25 years for the operation, monitoring and maintenance of water and sewerage services in more than 60 communities - many former reserves and missions - across the State.

The package will provide water disinfection by replacing pipes and treatment plants, improvements to water quality, repairs to centralised sewerage systems and subsurface irrigation, regular inspections and maintenance of pump stations and water treatment plants, regular maintenance and cleaning of sewer pumps and sewer mains, and the regular collection and testing of water.

NSWALC's nine member Governing Council unanimously endorsed the proposal at its meeting in March this year.

NSWALC and Local Aboriginal Land Councils are also currently working on their options for providing other benefits which can be directly offered to members

So what action does NSWALC plan to take in the future for cultural heritage? 

NSWALC seeks to play an increased role in the protection and promotion of cultural heritage in New South Wales. 

It seeks to do this through advocacy, advice and information.  In our recently released new corporate plan our focus in this area will be on:

• Working towards the return of all Aboriginal sites in NSW
• Developing culturally appropriate guidelines for the identification, protection and promotion of cultural heritage
• Considering and facilitating proposals and initiatives to further develop the maintenance and protection of Aboriginal culture.

At a local level, I hope to see Land Councils taking up the opportunity for funding offered by the Australian Government's new program 'Working on Country.'  

Land Councils are ideally placed to participate in this program. 

Twenty-five years of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act in NSW has resulted in Land Councils being major landholders in the state. 

Some of this land has significant cultural and natural values. 

Some we have received in a degraded state and are in need of the type of TLC that only traditional owners can give their country. 

All have a community of Aboriginal people wanting to work on country. 

I look forward to the results that may be achieved from Land Council accessing this program.

But, as NSWALC and Local Aboriginal Land Councils work towards achieving these aims, we will face many key challenges.

For example, Local Aboriginal Land Councils should continue to play an important role in supporting the protection of Aboriginal culture and heritage, but they do not in themselves necessarily have the right to speak for country.

That said, most LALCs have members who certainly are qualified to speak for country and they, along with other traditional owners need to be allowed and supported in exercising that right.

Speaking 'For' and 'About' Country is not a matter that we can allow government to resolve for us. It is a critical issue that we must address as a community.

It is our responsibility to come together and attempt to resolve our differences so that we can move forward for the sake of our future and our children's future.

The land rights system will be pivotal in addressing this problem, but we cannot do it alone.

Also, for too long in NSW there has been an artificial divide in government policy between the management of Aboriginal culture and heritage and the natural environment.

It is a sad irony that too often Aboriginal people are fighting for the protection of heritage sites, while forgetting about the impact of development on our use of the land and waters today.

That is not to say that the protection of heritage sites is not important - it is extremely important, but so to is our access to land, water and resources.

Another key challenge is to bridge the divide between culture and heritage and natural resources. It is not an easy situation to address and is being made more complicated by the pro-development attitude of the NSW government, but we must continue to push government to recognise the need for access to our lands.

Hunting and gathering continues to provide a source of subsistence and nourishment for our people. Equally important, the land and waters provide the source of our knowledge and having access is critical for the transmission of this knowledge to our younger generations.

As vital as our culture and heritage is important to us as Aboriginal people, we need to remember that we are a small percentage of the population in this state and that our culture and heritage is not all that important to the mainstream. It is for this reason that we need to improve our capacity to argue the case for better protection outcomes.

Taking into consideration the range of competing interests it is vital that we are able to advocate the broader benefits to protecting our lands, waters and heritage sites rather than have them destroyed under the guise of 'economic development'.

We cannot and should not avoid economic development, but we have to be clearer about what this term means for us and provide well reasoned caveats to ensure that such activity does not arise at the expense of our culture and heritage.

We also need to build our technical capacity within Aboriginal communities and organisations, particularly with respect to natural resource management. This is absolutely vital.

This simple fact is that science is dominating and driving the changes in policy with respect to the natural environment. If we do not build capacity within our people soon we are going to find ourselves, as we are already seeing, on the margins of the debate and only making minor contributions and achieving token outcomes.

The establishment of various committees and working parties may satisfy government's requirements to be seen to be consulting with Aboriginal people, but if we are not fully informed we can not be significantly engaged in the debates.

The key to becoming informed is to understand the perspectives of the other stakeholders. To do this we need to understand the technical aspects of their respective arguments.

That is not to say that everyone can be fully informed, but we need to ensure that those who make decisions and provide advice on our behalf are.

Tonight, I started my speech by mentioning my recent experience in New York.

For me, one of the biggest highlights in going to the UN was that I realised that we've not been fighting alone on the battle on Cultural and Heritage or even Climate Change.

Aboriginal peoples of the world are fighting these issues together.

And while we need to continue to be represented at an international level, we still have a lot of work to do a local and state level.

This local work will evolve through the Federal Government's new program 'Working on Country' or even the formation of a Statewide Aboriginal Representative Body on Natural Resource Management.

I hope this talk today clearly demonstrates that NSWALC stands ready and is active in working in partnership and co-operation with anyone who wishes to work for the positive advancing of Aboriginal people in NSW, across a wide range of issues.

It will be very busy and challenging work - and I wish you well.

I congratulate you on your passion, drive and commitment and I look forward to hearing of the great achievements of your respective Aboriginal Reference Groups.

Thank you.

 

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Wilkie, M., 1985, Aboriginal Land Rights in NSW, Chippendale, Law Foundation of NSW, p 107.