Indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion says he is ‘not in a position’ to grant Northern Territory land rights, some delayed for 20 years

A group of Aboriginal land rights claims in the Northern Territory, some held up for almost 20 years by ongoing opposition from cattle and fishing industry groups, will remain unresolved because the Indigenous affairs minister claims he “is “not in a position” to grant them, despite getting the all-clear from an independent review he commissioned.

Nigel Scullion controversially used money earmarked for alleviating Indigenous disadvantage to fund a fishing industry lobby group he used to chair, and two other groups, so they could argue how the land claims would detrimentally affect their business or personal interests.

The minister approved a grant of $150,000 to the Northern Territory Seafood Council, $170,000 to the NT amateur fishermen’s association, and $165,000 to the NT Cattlemen’s Association for “legal fees, effectively ... to put forward a case of detriment to the land commissioner,” he told Senate estimates in November.

The Aboriginal Land Commissioner’s review of the detriment issues said some of the arguments put to him were “poorly written”, “wholly speculative” and “lacking detailed supporting material”.

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“Many of the submissions that I received in response were disappointing,” wrote land commissioner, John Mansfield.

“In some instances, the responses were not informative responses to the questions asked by the invitations to participate, but contained what appeared to be general and not very comprehensible and/or inflated claims of detriment,” he wrote.

The claims could be granted with a few excisions and exceptions, Mansfield said, and the majority of objections around access to fishing areas could be managed by the permit system of the Northern Land Council.

Detriment did not simply encompass “disaffection”, and some stakeholders should not assume that because they are “currently able to exercise certain rights or conduct activities in the claim areas, they have an entitlement to that land at the expense of the rights of the traditional Aboriginal owners,” Mansfield wrote.

“The NLC has proposed a licence to allow pastoralists to carry out the activities normally carried out by pastoralists in the use of the claimed areas.

“That proposal, in its scope again seems to me to be a satisfactory one. That is despite the pedantic, and in some cases ungracious, responses of some pastoralists participating in the review.

“Overall, I have come to the conclusion generally that it is appropriate for the minister to make the claimed grants without requiring that the interest of the commercial fishers under their respective licences are further taken into account.

“There is no reason to think that the traditional owners who wish to take commercial advantage of their lands would not do so in a realistic way.”

However, Scullion said he was not prepared to grant the claims.

“When I became minister, I made a commitment to not only progress outstanding land claims, but to work with all stakeholders affected by any granting of land and I won’t be changing that approach,” he said.

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“Until the Northern Territory government and the Northern Land Council makes clear what arrangements will be put in place in relation to existing pastoral leases and how both commercial and recreational fishers can access Territory waters under any new permit regime, the decision maker – in this case myself – is simply not in any position to make a decision to grant land.”

Labor senator for the NT, Malarndirri McCarthy, said the minister should not have used Indigenous Advancement Strategy funding to support these detriment cases.

“I hope that he is reflecting on that decision. The minister has received the advice from the commissioner, which is an independent statutory office holder. Now he needs to act on these outstanding cases and resolve them as soon as possible and give clarity to all stakeholders,” she said.

Under the land rights act, the minister for Indigenous affairs has final say on granting land claims.

Last year a spokesman from Scullion’s office said “the Coalition committed to resolving outstanding land claims and provided funding to a range of stakeholders to make this happen, something that Labor never has.”