Territory land councils sit on almost 1000 Section 19 permits

The departure of the space program from Arnhem Land has put Section 19 applications in the spotlight. See the extraordinary number still to be processed.

At least 1000 Section 19 applications remain unprocessed across the Northern Territory, with land councils standing by the system despite the backlog.

The Northern Land Council said that in November it had 582 outstanding Section 19 applications waiting for approval, while the Central Land Council had 379 applications.

The 961 outstanding Section 19s does not include unprocessed permits from the smaller, regional land councils.

Section 19 leases are individual leases managed by land councils through which Aboriginal land is accessed for recreation, commercial or other uses.

Operated under the Aboriginal land rights Act, it allows government, businesses, organisations and individuals to apply to land councils for leases over specific areas of Aboriginal land.

In December, Equatorial Launch Australia, the company that launched three NASA rockets at Nhulunbuy in 2022, withdrew its potentially billion-dollar Arnhem Space Centre project because of, it claims, delays by the Northern Land Council in processing a Section 19 for an extension of its lease.

ELA’s December 2024 media release left little doubt who it blamed for upping stumps in the Territory.

Equatorial Launch Australia's executive chairman and CEO Michael Jones. Picture Kelly Barnes

“The decision came after the Northern Land Council (NLC) failed to meet its own specified deadline for the approval of The Head Lease for the fourth time over the last 12 months in October 2024,” ELA said.

“Despite desperate appeals from ELA, the Northern Territory Chief Minister’s Department and the Gumatj Corporation since February 2024, the NLC would not issue a Head Lease or provide any official reasons for the delays.”

Regardless of who was to blame, the Gumatj traditional owners, who stood to benefit from the project, have indicated they would welcome Equatorial Launch Australia’s return to West Arnhem.

The NLC rejected any responsibility for ELA’s withdrawal, saying it had “engaged proactively and positively to facilitate a substantial, swift and, most crucially, safe agreement being made between ASC and traditional owners”.

It said it would work with ELA to progress the project but it appears the project is not coming back.

In another instance some years ago, interstate investors who tried to grow Kakadu plums to benefit the Ti Tree community fell foul of traditional owners after the seedlings were planted, when some of them changed their minds and sunk the venture.

In response to questions from the NT News, the Northern Land Council said it took about 12-18 months from the time an expression of interest is received to when the Land Use Agreement was executed.

Northern Territory Treasure Bill Yan. Picture: Gera Kazakov

It said between May and November 2024 it had received 89 proposals.

In 2021-22 it received 235 EOIs and took an average 972 days to process.

It fell to 636 days the following year and in 2023-24, the average processing days fell to 334.

“Since 2021-22 the average number of days has decreased by 638,” the NLC said.

Adjunct Professor at Northern Institute Rolf Gerritsen said Section 19s arose because the Land Rights Act did not permit alienation by sale of land held under Native Title.

“If a community wants to lease some of their traditionally-owned land, they have to obtain a s19 permit so effectively they lease their land for an agreed period,” Prof Gerritsen said.

“The land councils want to protect Indigenous people from exploitative deals. This makes them suspicious of the business proponents and also slow to complete the process of consultation with the traditional owners.”

Adjunct Professor Rolf Gerritsen.

Treasurer Bill Yan said the Territory Government would be happy to work with land councils to help facilitate the Section 19 approval process.

“The slow and uncertain pathway for section 19 applications dampen and delay economic opportunities across the Territory,” he said.

“Our understanding is the majority of the applications are from Aboriginal people wanting to do things on Aboriginal land.

“The NT Government is supportive of working with Land Councils to assist them clearing their backlog.”

The Central Land Council questioned the statistics provided by the Territory Government.

“The vast majority of Section 19 applications in the CLC region are from government bodies,” a spokesman said.

“Government bodies account for approximately 78 per cent of lots with ‘in progress applications’ in the CLC region and approximately 87 per cent of lots presently under lease or licence.”

Input for this article was unsuccessfully sought from Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy.

Originally published as Territory land councils sit on almost 1000 Section 19 permits