Victorians to pay crown land rent to Aboriginal clan, plus $26m upfront
Victorians engaging in activities on crown land, from grazing to mining and logging, will be required to negotiate and pay rent to Aboriginal clans.
FARMERS, loggers and miners will have to negotiate and pay rent to Aboriginal clans to renew crown land leases and licences across almost two million hectares of central Victoria.
Attorney-General Jill Hennessy gazetted a Land Use Activity Agreement last week, as part of a traditional owner settlement deal that has already delivered $26 million to the Taungurung Land and Waters Council Aboriginal Corporation.
The agreement grants the Taungurung Corporation what are termed “advisory” or “negotiation rights” over a large range of activities on crown land, from bee sites to grazing leases, the release of logging coupes and even the ripping of rabbit warrens.
The Settlement Agreement covers some of Victoria’s most valuable timber reserves and water catchments, including Goulburn, King and half the Ovens River, as well as Eildon Dam and more than 800,000ha of parks and state forests.
Those wanting to renew an agricultural lease covering more than 40ha or undertaking mining, forestry, aquaculture or a raft of other long-term community or commercial activities on crown land faces having to sit down with the Taungurung Corporation to broker a deal on paying a “community benefit”.
The agreement also states: “the Corporation will also be entitled to reimbursement of reasonable negotiation costs”.
The “community benefit” is defined using a formula that grants the Aboriginal Corporation 25 per cent of the lease or licence fee, plus 10 per cent solatium (apology payment), up to a value of $20,000. Any benefit paid above that threshold is added at a lower rate.
The granting of negotiation rights to the Taungurung Corporation sits in stark contrast to the Andrews Government’s refusal to grant farmers the right to negotiate with mining companies wishing to access their land.
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Minister Hennessy reassured Victorians “the agreement does not change existing leases or licences over public land”.
However, her office responded to further questioning, by stating: “once the full term of the lease or licence (including any options to renew) have expired, then any new leases or licences granted over that area is subject to the LUAA (agreement)”.
Ms Hennessy said “proponents of substantial new commercial activities on public land within the settlement area, such as construction or mineral extraction, need to negotiate directly with the Taungurung now that the settlement agreement is in place”.
The cost of compensating the Taungurung Clan is already being factored into all VicForests timber release plans.
“VicForests must consult with the Taungurung corporation in amending Timber Release Plans,” Ms Hennessy’s office said, with the “state then paying any community benefits to the Taungurung corporation as a proportion of its annual dividend”.
The agreement also demands the Taungurung Corporation be consulted on what are termed “Advisory Activities”, with the Minister having the power, after consulting traditional owner groups to “vary or revoke” an activity.
These advisory activities include licences, leases, permits and authorisations for:
BEE sites
GRAZING of stock (under 40ha)
FOREST produce, such as tree ferns, leaves, flowers, sleepers, eucalyptus oil, seed, posts, poles and timber
EXTRACTIVE materials (for example the taking or use of gravel, limestone, sand, or salt)
RECREATION or event permits, such as car rallies, rave parties, rogaining/orienteering or mountain biking
PLANNED burns
REVEGETATION or regeneration works and associated activities
REHABILITATION or regeneration of vegetation, or a lake, river, creek, stream or other waterway
DESTRUCTION of rabbit warrens
SAND bypassing and dredging
DEVELOPMENT of management or work plans under the Fisheries Act, National Parks Act, Wildlife Act, Marine and Coastal Act, Water Act and Forests Act.
Victorian Nationals Leader and Opposition Aboriginal affairs spokesman Peter Walsh said the Andrews Government needed to ensure the Taungurung agreement did not “pit the rights of Traditional Owners against our farmers and landholders”.
“It’s Labor’s responsibility to make sure it follows through. We need a clear plan forward from the Andrews Labor Government that respects the rights of all parties while working towards Victoria’s commitments to our Indigenous communities under Closing the Gap.”
As for the initial $26 million payment Ms Hennessy’s office said it was being “deposited into the Victorian Traditional Owners Trust in a single payment”.
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When asked what guidelines were in place on how the money would be spent, the Minister’s office stated: “the Taungurung corporation’s expenditure of funding is governed by its rule book, the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006, and in accordance with its charitable status (as per its registration with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission)”.
The renewal of alpine resort leases has been excluded from the list of negotiated activities.
The Broadford-based Taungurung Corporation failed to respond to repeated calls to its office from The Weekly Times seeking comment.
The Taungurung Agreement is only the second to be brokered in Victoria, with the last completed in 2013 with the Dja Dja Wurrung corporation, covering much smaller areas of crown land across the old goldfields surrounding Bendigo, Inglewood and Wedderburn.
Since then much of the Dja Dja Wurrung region has been subject to a Victorian Environmental Assesment Council review, which has recommended an end to all timber harvesting, hunting, prospecting and mining in the area, with restrictions on horse riding.
There were very few grazing leases in the Dja Dja Wurrung region.
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