Land claim: Dja Dja Wurrung uses High Court case to demand more compensation

The Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal community wants far more compensation for major work on crown land in its territory.

Compensation claim: A 2019 High Court ruling compensating native title holders in the remote Northern Territory community of Timber Creek has major implications for Victoria.

The cost of road works, building schools, hospitals or even bike paths is set to blow out as the Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal group renegotiates a massive hike in the compensation they receive for major work on crown land.

Dja Dja Wurrung chief executive Rodney Carter said the group was renegotiating its 2013 Land Use Activity Agreement to gain more compensation, in light of a 2019 High Court ruling on compensation paid to a remote Northern Territory Aboriginal community for the loss of native title over 127ha surrounding the town of Timber Creek.

The Court ruled the Ngaliwurru and Nungali Peoples be granted economic compensation worth 50 per cent of the freehold value of the land, plus $1.3 million for cultural loss.

In contrast the Dja Dja Wurrung’s current 2013 LUAA limits their compensation to 25 per cent of the first $100,000 of unimproved site value for major works on crown land within the group’s central western Victorian territory, then 10 per cent on the next $400,000, ratcheting down in a series of steps to 0.5 per cent for sites worth more than $10m.

But Mr Carter said the Dja Dja Wurrung were seeking more compensation in line with the High Court ruling, by valuing crown land based on nearby residential values, but “we’re still working it out”.

High Court

The Weekly Times has been told the City of Greater Bendigo has already hit roadblocks in its negotiations with the Dja Dja Wurrung as it works to build community infrastructure and access roads for residential developments.

Under the current 2013 LUAA the Dja Dja Wurrung compensation for sealing and widening a 200m gravel road would be about $18,000 or $4.40 per square metre, equal to 25 per cent of its unimproved value of $72,318.

Applying the High Court ruling to the same stretch of gravel road, would mean paying the DDW group $616,350 or $150 per square metre, based on valuing the road as residential land worth $1.23m or $300 per square metre.

Bendigo Council corporate performance director Andrew Cooney said there were times when negotiations “can have an impact on the project’s timeline and budget”.

“(But) we are working with all parties to try and obtain successful outcomes.”

Aboriginal Affairs minister Gabrielle Williams said “the government is negotiating a revised Land Use Activity Agreement with the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation”.

“It would be inappropriate to comment while those negotiations are ongoing”.

If successful the new LUAA will set a precedent that Victoria’s 10 other Registered Aboriginal Parties are likely to follow.