NT land rights framework review delivers new rights for traditional owners

The federal government has completed its review of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act, introducing amendments that give Traditional Owners greater control over the development of minerals and water resources on Aboriginal land and strengthen the Land Councils' role in negotiating benefit-sharing agreements with resource companies operating in their territories.

The amendments, the most significant changes to the 1976 Act in 20 years, respond to decades of advocacy from Traditional Owners who argued that the existing framework gave them insufficient economic benefit from resource extraction occurring on their country. Under the revised framework, royalty distributions to Aboriginal communities will increase and Traditional Owners will have new rights to require environmental management plans before development consent is granted.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy, who grew up in the Borroloola community covered by the Northern Land Council, said the changes were a long-overdue correction to a framework that had not kept pace with the economic rights enjoyed by other landholders in Australia. "Aboriginal people in the Territory have the most valuable land in the country and have received the least benefit from it for too long. This changes that," she said.

Northern Land Council chair Samuel Bush-Blanasi welcomed the amendments while noting that more work was needed on the governance and investment of royalty distributions to ensure maximum community benefit. He said the Council would be working with Traditional Owner groups over the next year to develop community investment plans for the expected increase in royalty flows.

Mining industry groups raised concerns about the increased negotiation requirements, but confirmed they were committed to working within the new framework.

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