WA native title fail puts big projects on hold

Billions of dollars worth of projects and government works in WA are facing delays after the Aboriginal corporation recognised for its cultural heritage work across the Perth area imploded.

Former premier Colin Barnett hands the native title offer to Indigenous leaders in 2013. Picture: Marie Nirme

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Perth’s new airport runway and developments on the holiday island of Rottnest are among billions of dollars worth of projects and government works facing delays after the Aboriginal corporation recognised for its cultural heritage work across the metropolitan area imploded.

The Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation – the representative corporation for all traditional owners of Perth and surrounds – has been cut off from the money that flows from Australia’s biggest native title settlement following months of tumult.

Perpetual, the trustee of the Noongar Boodja Trust established as part of the historic $1.3bn settlement struck by former Liberal premier Colin Barnett, on Monday gave the corporation a suspension notice, telling the three remaining board members to go into administration.

Chaos within Whadjuk has included a months-long stalemate during which two people insisted they were both the chairperson, and surprise redundancies last month that left the corporation with just one paid staff member.

Developments on the holiday destination Rottnest Island face delays

In a dramatic climax to the conflict, at the end of last month, police were called to the Whadjuk offices of in the southern Perth suburb of Applecross to remove Noongar grandmother Rosemary Walley, who had been appointed chairperson in November 2023.

However, Noongar man Reg Yarran told her he was now the chair.

“I got up and I went to the door and I said hello to the police,” Ms Walley, 60, said.

“One of them told me ‘we’ve been called for you, you have to leave’.

“There were four police officers there to tell me to go.

“They were not rude but they said if you go back in there we will have to charge you with misconduct.”

In subsequent correspondence seen by The Australian, Whadjuk told councils and other proponents of projects across Perth that it had entered an arrangement with a private company which would do the Aboriginal cultural and heritage work previously done by corporation staff. The Australian has been told this caused confusion in some cases.

News that Whadjuk’s trust funding had been suspended has created anxiety across WA’s government and industry.

The mayor of one metropolitan council, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely about sensitive matters, told The Australian that all the council’s Aboriginal heritage work was now halted. This included public spaces where relevant approvals for development had been obtained but heritage monitoring was a condition.

A new runway at Perth Airport also faces delays Picture: Instagram

“This has severely compromised a few really good projects under way,” the mayor said.

While Whadjuk is not the only provider of Aboriginal cultural heritage services in Perth, it has been widely considered desirable to involve the corporation in some way during developments in or near the metropolitan area, even if this means including representatives on consultative ­committees.

This is because Whadjuk was established as part of the South West Native Title Settlement, which was established for the benefit of the state’s 30,000 Noongar people. That deal with the traditional owners of Perth and the southwest of WA is considered by some constitutional experts to be the nation’s first treaty.

The deal comprised a $600m trust, vast tracts of crown land and other agreements such as shared management of national parks.

On Tuesday, Perpetual Limited confirmed that, in its capacity as trustee of the Noongar Boodjar Trust, it had suspended Whadjuk’s funding from the trust. It found Whadjuk had been operating with just three directors.

“Following recent director resignations at Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation (WAC), the number of directors of the Corporation has now fallen below the threshold required under the Regional Corporation Principles and WAC Rulebook,” Perpetual told The Australian.

“As a result, and following attempts to engage and remediate effectively, yesterday we provided WAC with an ENE Default Notice and Suspension Notice on the basis that the Corporation does not satisfy the Regional Corporation Principles and is therefore not currently eligible to receive NBT (Noongar Boodja Trust) funding.

“In our engagement, we have encouraged WAC to seek the assistance of the Registrar expeditiously so that their status as an ENE and funding can be restored.”

The Australian understands there are high hopes the “serious matters” can be resolved at Whadjuk fastest if a special administrator takes over temporarily.

The state government has no authority to intervene but has been watching the events with concern.

On Tuesday a spokesman for the Cook government said: “The Cook Government acknowledges the governance difficulties that Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation is currently experiencing.”

“The Corporation is an integral pillar of the Noongar Governance Structure, essential to realising the benefits under the South West Native Title Settlement,” the spokesman said.

Perth Airport’s new runway is a $2.5bn project. The Australian has been told that Whadjuk was invited to nominate Noongar members for a relationships committee as the work progressed.

Developments on Rottnest Island are particularly sensitive because it was once a prison for Aboriginal males from across the state. Records indicate at least 370 Aboriginal men and boys are buried in a mass grave at the island now dotted with holiday and resort accommodation.

The Noongar people of Perth and the southwest are recognised in a 2016 act of parliament as the traditional owners of Perth and the state’s southwest. This was done as part of the Noongar settlement, which was welcomed by government and industry because it removed the need for any developer, farmer or government agency to negotiate native title across the south west.

The crisis at Whadjuk has caused angst in the Noongar community, which has been seeking information as news trickled out about conflicts and the alleged sacking of one of its chief executives last year and the resignation of another in February.