Fury over Aboriginal trust fund land buys

The use of almost $20m of Aboriginal trust money to buy a former WA horse ranch should be examined by the state Attorney-General and potentially the Supreme Court.

WA Attorney-General John Quigley. Picture: Colin Murty

The use of almost $20m of Aboriginal trust money to buy a former horse ranch in Western Australia’s picturesque Avon Valley and ­houses in Perth should be examined by the state Attorney-General and potentially the Supreme Court, says a legal opinion obtained by a director of the Indigenous land council that established the trust.

The South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council struck the biggest Indigenous land and cash deal in Australian history with the former Barnett Liberal government, a $1.3bn settlement supported by both sides of government and likened to a treaty. But the land council has been in tumult for almost a year over its role in decisions that led to about $19.5m being taken out of the Noongar Charitable Trust for property bought in 2019 and 2020.

Board member Noel Morich, elected after the trust money was spent, has sought his own legal opinion about whether the money should have been used at all and the role of the professional trustee that signed the release of the funds, Melbourne-based Equity Trustees.

In a six-page letter, Hotchkin Hanly Lawyers partner Michael Hotchkin told Mr Morich on ­August 20 that based on the information provided to him it was possible there had been breaches of the acts governing trusts and ­Indigenous corporations.

“I consider that there is justification for requesting the ­Attorney-General to intervene by conducting an inquiry into those matters and, if necessary, to make an application to the Supreme Court for orders directed to rectifying such breaches and ensuring due administration of the NCT (Noongar Charitable Trust), “ Mr Hotchkin wrote.

The trust is significant in part because it was set up from the sale of land in Perth’s north where ­revered Aboriginal activist and educator Ken Colbung ran a community college. Colbung, who died in 2010, is a hero to many ­Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in WA for his skilful advocacy and a marathon campaign that tracked down the head of Noongar warrior Yagan to a ­Liverpool graveyard in England and brought it home in 1997. The trust is widely regarded as ­Colbung’s legacy. It held $38.4m in assets before the property ­purchases, and only its income was distributed as grants.

However, this changed in 2019 when Equity Trustees authorised the property purchases with support from the former board of the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council.

The properties did not go into private hands. Two residential properties in Perth’s south, bought with about $6m in trust money in January last year, are controlled by a new charity called the Aboriginal Housing Recovery Centre that aims to ease homelessness. Its directors include former Fremantle Dockers star Des Headland and the land council’s former chief executive Wayne Nannup.

The rural property, previously an El Caballo Blanco dancing horse theme park, was bought with about $13.5m of trust money and remains an asset of the Noongar Charitable Trust.

There has been a furious backlash to the purchases. At fiery meetings, land council members said they should have been consulted and claimed the rural property in particular was overpriced.

It was bought as a place for homeless Noongar ­people to live, rehabilitate from drugs or escape domestic violence.

Amid the furore, Equity Trustees has commissioned a report on future options for the newly-purchased properties. The organisation is confident there has been no breach of trust law.

The Australian has been told that Attorney-General John ­Quigley is considering what if any steps he will take over the property purchases. A spokeswoman for Mr Quigley said he was developing reforms to the Charitable Trusts Act to strengthen the regulation and oversight of charitable trusts.