Central Land Council
in this section
CLC Press Releases
- 14 Augyust 2008 2008
- Communities have their say on intervention ›› more
- 31 July 2008 2008
- Fairfax news in bad taste ›› more
- 24 July 2008 2008
- election: accountability needed ›› more
- 17 July 2008 2008
- Royal commission needed into NT funding ›› more
- 11 July 2008 2008
- Simpson Desert: the last land rights claim under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act ›› more
- 8 July 2008 2008
- Sacred site damage at Wilora ›› more
- 30 May 2008
- Seal the Mereenie Loop Road Now ›› more
- 27 May 2008
- Angela Pamela Negotiations ›› more
- 9 May 2008
- Angela Pamela and the native title process ›› more
- 18 February 2008
- Coalition should support permit system ›› more
- 15 February 2008
- Politicians threaten to derail fresh start ›› more
- 22 January 2008
- Police ignorance upsets Lajamanu community ›› more
- 26 November 2007
- Optimism for a fresh consensual approach on Aboriginal affairs ›› more
- 21 November 2007
- Concerns over Central Petroleum tactics ›› more
Central Land Council Director David Ross says that Aboriginal people want to keep the permit system on Aboriginal land.
He says the permit system has three important functions.
“ Aboriginal land is private land. Like any other private land owners Aboriginal people wish to maintain their privacy and control visitors. Aboriginal people live very public lives in contrast to Europeans. They often live and sleep outside and wish to maintain their privacy from tourists or media or anyone else who may wish to drive by with a video camera or just to have a look at how these people live.
“Second, the permit system allows people to control who is employed or lives on Aboriginal land.
“There is currently an inquiry into unscrupulous art dealers taking place. The permit system is the only protection Aboriginal people have against these types of people.
“Unfortunately, it is a sad fact of life that there are many non-Aboriginal people working on Aboriginal land who take advantage of a population which has a low level of literacy and understanding of financial matters.
“The CLC deals with these types of matters on a weekly basis and the permit system is the only protection afforded to Aboriginal people when police are few and far between.
“Third, the permit system allows people to protect their sacred sites.
“Desecration of sites is devastating to the custodians when it occurs and abolishing permits would give tourists and bush bashers a free range on Aboriginal land.
“It would be disastrous for Aboriginal people trying to maintain their culture and their social system,” Mr Ross said.
Mr Ross was responding to allegations by the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Mal Brough in Parliament today in which he used an incident involving the sexual abuse of a 12 year old boy in Maningrida to justify abolishing the permits system.
“To suggest this would not have happened if media had been allowed unfettered access is ridiculous.
“Does the media prevent crime and sexual abuse in the wider community? The answer is quite simply: no.
“As I have said many times before Aboriginal people do not have a problem with media coverage of court proceedings on their communities.
“They recognise this as part of the process of living in a democracy. However the CLC has not received any requests from the media to cover court cases on Aboriginal land, although we issued more than 4000 permits last year.
“We have had blanket coverage of sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities for the past six months and all that has happened is that Aboriginal culture is up for trial by media rather than the perpetrators.
“While I support the right of the public to know about these issues in all segments of Australian society the role of the media is to inform the public rather than perform the role of police and judiciary.
Contact Jane Hodson 0417877579, 0889516217
www.clc.org.au
13 September 2006