By Sean Martin-Iverson
PERTH — The WA government is pushing through its native title "reform" package, with the aim of de facto abolition of land rights. The legislation has met considerable protest from Aboriginal and social justice groups, but only muted objections from the Labor opposition.
Under this legislation, the granting of freehold titles, agricultural and pastoral leases, mining leases, residential leases, community purposes leases and soldier-settler farm leases will explicitly extinguish any native title rights.
The Titles Validation Amendment Bill, currently before the Legislative Council, entrenches such titles and leases which have already been granted without regard for the rights of the traditional owners, while the Native Title (State Provisions) Bill establishes mechanisms for extinguishing native title where it is seen to conflict with proposed mining, pastoral or other commercial development.
The Titles Validation Amendment Bill was pushed through the lower house with minimal discussion or scrutiny.
It will validate more than 9000 mining and other land use titles, most of which were granted prior to the WA government being forced to comply with the federal Native Title Act by a High Court ruling in 1995. It also validates 211 titles illegally granted to seven resource companies in direct violation of native title legislation.
This bill extinguishes native title without even a pretence of negotiation or compensation.
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (WA) have described it as a "travesty of justice, unjust and discriminating". They have called for the bill to be blocked in the upper house because "to extinguish native title where it might still exist deliberately continues the process of dispossession of Aboriginal people today and is racially discriminatory".
The Native Title (State Provisions) Bill, which is being debated in the Legislative Assembly, uses the framework established under the federal Native Title Amendment Act to further erode the Mabo and Wik court decisions.
A state Native Title Commission will be established, replacing the right to negotiate over pastoral leases with a process of "consultation" in which traditional owners will be denied any real say over what happens to their land.
Furthermore, ministers will be granted the power to overrule this commission in the interest of "economic growth and development".
Premier Richard Court has proposed his own amendments to this bill, after Labor criticised it as perhaps "unworkable" due to conflict with some federal legislation and possible legal challenges.
State Labor leader Geoff Gallop hailed the proposed amendments as a "major breakthrough". They are based largely on the opposition's proposals, which, in the words of Labor spokesperson on Aboriginal affairs Tom Stephens, were aimed at giving "certainty to pastoralists, the mining industry and Aboriginal groups".
The urging of the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy in a full-page advertisement in the West Australian that "the ALP shouldn't oppose the Native Title Bill just because they're in Opposition" seems redundant: Labor has supported the legislation's fundamentals — granting "certainty" that Aboriginal land rights will be eliminated in the interests of the mining and pastoral industries.
The Coalition government is seeking to prevent any significant scrutiny of its legislation. Labor has supported the government in this: for example, supporting an extremely short committee stage for the Titles Validation Bill.
For this, it has been criticised by the Greens, Aboriginal groups, the churches and other community organisations, which are demanding that all of the proposed legislation be subject to a sustained public inquiry and criticism.
While the mining and pastoral lobbies have had their input, there has been a definite lack of consultation with Aboriginal communities. Requests from the WA Native Title Working Group for meetings with the premier have gone unanswered.
Nyoongar elders Robert Bropho, Andy Nebro, Patrick Hume and Saul Yarran have said that if they are denied the right to address parliament and the legislation is not drastically altered, they will ensure that the government's actions are challenged internationally.
Aboriginal activist Yaluritja (Clarrie Isaacs) told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, "So much for reconciliation. The stealing continues, and Australia's human rights record takes another beating.
"It's ridiculous — you can't validate stolen property. Richard Court has gagged debate, guillotined it as [the Keating Labor government did] in 1993 ... Of course, the ALP is just as dishonest as the Libs, using excuses not to obstruct them."
Church groups have criticised the legislation on human rights grounds. The Anglican archbishop, Peter Carnley, has expressed grave concerns over the potential for extinguishing native title, the removal of the right to negotiate and the validation of commercial titles granted without consultation, allowing the resource companies to benefit from illegality.
The Uniting Church's Social Justice Commission chairperson, Rosemary Miller, said, "It is a human rights issue, given that the whole spirituality of land and [Aboriginal people's] understanding of land has been central to their culture. To take that away would breach their human rights."
Marcel Cameron, organiser of the Perth branch of the socialist youth organisation Resistance, has condemned the bills as part of an ongoing attack on the rights of Aboriginal people.
"Make no mistake: this is racist legislation, coming from a racist government. It says that Aboriginal people have less right to the land than others do. It tramples over Aboriginal land rights to benefit the mining companies and other environmentally destructive profit-making enterprises. It is totally outrageous and unacceptable, but the expected next step after Howard's Native Title Amendment Act."