Aboriginal freehold to generate wealth

INDIGENOUS Australians will be given the chance to buy and sell their own homes under new Queensland laws.

INDIGENOUS Australians will be given the chance to buy and sell their own homes under new Queensland laws that pave the way for freehold title to exist across their communities.

After decades of debate and delays, the Newman government will introduce landmark legislation today giving councils that cover 34 Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities the right to transfer the tenure of selec­ted land from communal ownership to freehold.

The laws, which will be in ­effect by the end of the year, will extinguish native title on the lots put up for freehold and later enable the sale of the property to outsiders.

Aboriginal leaders have been pushing for the changes to allow people to generate wealth and pass it on to their families.

Over the past two years, Queensland officials have been surveying the potential freehold lands — initially restricted to townships — defining the lots and ensuring that each is properly serviced with sewage, water and electricity so that rates can be charged.

It will be the first time people will be able to buy property in Australian indigenous communities, with the exception of Hopevale, on Cape York, where freehold title has always existed on a small tract of land that sits alongside the township.

Queensland councils will now consult their communities before deciding on whether to allocate some land for the transfer to freehold title.

Queensland Indigenous Affairs Minister Glen Elmes said yesterday the laws were needed to help “normalise’’ the communities and give the same opportunities to indigenous people that were a right in mainstream Australia.

“It is a monumental step and help in moving communities that are almost entirely dependent on the government to become like anywhere else in Australia,’’ Mr Elmes said.

“This is about letting people buy their family home, build wealth, pass it on to their kids if they want or sell it on the market.’’

Mr Elmes said councils could “opt out’’ and not adopt the laws, after consultation with their communities.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson, a longtime advocate for home ownership on Aboriginal communities, said he believed the Newman government had the right model for the transfer to freehold title.

Mr Pearson said there shouldn’t be concerns about the extinguishment of native title with the move to freehold and individual ownership.

“There are millions of hectares of aboriginal land under native title which will not be affected at all,’’ he said.

“We have advocated with the Newman government for the option for freehold title to be available in townships.

“There is a mix of tenures, and to bring in freehold in the towns is appropriate if you want a vib­rant community where people own property and own and run businesses.’’

Mr Pearson said councils should set aside lots just for trad­itional owners. Lockhart River Mayor Wayne Butcher said the laws were a “step into the future’’ for Aborigines and gave people the same rights as other Australians.

Mr Butcher said that only a “small proportion’’ of residents could afford to buy a property in Lockhart River, but that would build with time.

Other communities, particularly near mines, would have a faster take-up of the offer.

“It could change the whole way of thinking: land tenure has always been an issue, and it will help people own their home and even develop businesses,’’ Mr Butcher said.