Central Land Council

CALL TO CHANGE SACRED SITE LAWS

The Northern Territory Sacred Sites Act, 1989 must be amended to require sacred site clearances be obtained by developers and properly owners before carrying out any "work" says CLC Director Tracker Tilmouth following an outburst from an Alice Springs man. In early September Alice Springs Real Estate operator Dominic Miller publicly blasted the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) and Aboriginal people generally over the handling of a sacred site on his property in Taylor Street. "Aboriginal people are constantly being blamed when really the NT Government is at fault. Repeated requests have been made by the CLC to the Government to amend the Sacred Sites Act.

As it stands developers are able to start and complete work without a site clearance." "The CLC put submissions to the Chief Minister back in 1989, when the Government was considering the enactment of the legislation and renewed the submission in May this year outlining the problems with the Act. The Government chose to ignore our advice and another incident has now taken place," Mr Tilmouth said. "We informed the Government that in order to give property owners and developers the security to build on their properties without difficulties, amendments had to be made to the legislation. Simple changes can be made so that clearances could be part of the development process, similar to town planning and building approvals." "In 1989 the Attorney General Daryl Manzie dismissed the Land Council's submission as "totally impractical."

Recently Lands and Housing Minister Steve Hatton was reported in the local media as saying that there are now compulsory sacred sites clearance procedures under the Act. This is totally inaccurate and misleads the public," Mr Tilmouth said. In 1983 Mr Justice Toohey recommended in his report 'Seven Years On' that "Northern Territory planning laws require notice to be given to the Aboriginal Sacred Sites Protection Authority and the relevant land Council where development of land is proposed." Mr Tilmouth said current problems like those with Dominic Miller's property on Taylor Street could have been avoided if the CLC's suggestions were adopted.

Prospective purchasers would have been on notice of any sacred sites as a consequence of the prior sacred site clearance. "Simple changes would relieve the Government from liability to compensate the present land owners who may be unable to develop their properties due to the existence of sacred sites. The Government is presently exposed to an unknown number of claims in the future and the situation could well be repeated if changes are not made." "We reminded the Government of the importance of amending the Act in October this year. An invitation was again extended to meet with Land Councils to discuss the matter however, and we have still not received a response," Mr Tilmouth said.