Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour flags ‘big issues’ with native title

The federal MP whose electorate covers almost the entire Northern Territory says she wants a discussion about native title holders being empowered to veto developments on their land.

The federal MP whose electorate covers almost the entire Northern Territory says she wants a discussion about native title holders being empowered to veto developments on their land.

Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour flagged “big issues” with the discrepancy between how much power is conveyed by the Land Rights Act compared with how little influence native title holders hadover what happened on native title land.

She said adding veto powers to native title was “absolutely not” on the agenda of her Labor colleagues, but strengthening the Act could unlock economic opportunities for Aboriginal Territorians who would otherwise be left out of development projects.

Ms Scrymgour also said native title reforms would help to protect traditional owners’ interests from the Territory Coordinator’s scope of powers, and could have prevented decisions such as the Singleton water licence being granted.

Federal Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

“Native Title and the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, are two very different pieces of legislation – one has a lot of rights and authority, and the other one has substandard rights and authority,” she said.

Ms Scrymgour said one of the biggest issues in the Barkly and Central Australian regions was native title holders being shut-out of projects on pastoral leases under non-pastoral use permits.

She gave the example of Singleton Station, an arid cattle property north of Alice Springs, which was granted one of the largest groundwater licences in the nation’s history to grow fruits and vegetables.

“Even though you can have native title holders over the area, and those native title holders have a right to be consulted, there’s no veto powers,” Ms Scrymgour said.

“(Pastoralists) are obligated under the Act to talk to native title holders, but they’re not obligated to do anything about it.

“What’s happened at Singleton is wrong … Territory Labor was absolutely wrong in their decision when they allocated that licence to have open slather in terms of water.

“Native title holders want to be at the table and have a conversation about this. Lots of native title holders are not anti-development, but they do want development to happen in consultation.”

Trial grapes growing at Singleton Station.

Ms Scrymgour said veto powers were something “people will need to have a discussion about”, but she would “be surprised if it ever happened” – the idea threatening a political firestorm neither side wants.

“If you talk about veto powers under native title, people sort of think, ‘Oh sh--, nothing will happen,” she said.

“But we’ve got to be mature enough as a nation to be able to all have a conversation about what this is, and will it create a problem?

“What we want is for the middle ground, to say ‘yes this (development) can happen, but let’s make sure that people can be consulted and they can understand what it means’. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

Last year the federal government tasked the Australian Law Reform Commission to undertake an inquiry into the Native Title Act, investigating any inequality, unfairness or weaknesses in the future acts regime, which governs how development projects can occur on land subject to native title.

That report is due to be handed to whoever is in power in December this year.

Ms Scrymgour has remained relatively quiet on the issue during her three years in office, and defended raising the topic on the eve of an election.

“Like many others I’m waiting for that (ALRC) review to be done, to see where they land,” she said.

“There has to be a bigger conversation, whoever gets into government after May 3, about the Land Rights Act, Native Title, and what does that mean for the Northern Territory.”

Originally published as Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour flags ‘big issues’ with native title