Indigenous voice to parliament unlocks home ownership, says Noel Pearson

A lack of appropriate tenure meant Indigenous communities were unable to attract investment and jobs, Noel Pearson says.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

An Indigenous voice to parliament should push for greater land tenure rights that would increase the ability of Aboriginal communities to attract investment to their lands and drive up home ownership levels, senior leader Noel Pearson has said.

Mr Pearson said while Indigenous communities had “lots of land” in the wake of the Mabo decision, they did not have the tenure that enabled them to attract investment to build new industries on that land.

That in turn contributed to a lack of job opportunities in many of those communities.

“If we get organised in making tenure available for investment, we can attract investors … but that requires a lot of ­support from government, the government has to help us,” Mr Pearson said.

“There has got to be some law changes, policy changes, we’ve got to invest in the creation of new tenures. Those are things that the voice needs to advocate.”

Mr Pearson has long campaigned for increased home ownership among Indigenous people, arguing that shifting from public housing to home ownership was a means of Indigenous families “getting skin in the game”.

But he noted many Indigenous communities had never been formally surveyed, stymieing efforts to introduce and increase Aboriginal home ownership.

“Every Australian town has got the advantage of having been surveyed some time over the last two centuries,” Mr Pearson said.

“This has not happened in Aboriginal communities, and we need government to focus on it … to engage in enterprise and attract investment.

“If we had a voice, it would certainly be advocating the necessity for government to work with communities to make their land create the kind of economic development that they need.”

Mr Pearson’s comments were made at The Australian’s Great Voice Debate on Tuesday night.