Native title deal angers WA Tent Embassy
8 Jul 2013, 3:53 pm - Source: AAP
WA's Tent Embassy labels an offer to settle the Noongar people's native title claim an insult. (AAP)
WA's Tent Embassy labels an historic $1.3 billion offer to settle the Noongar people's native title claim over the state's southwest an insult.
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A group of Aboriginal activists has objected to a $1.3 billion native title deal offer by the West Australian government to the Noongar people of the state's South West region.
The out-of-court package involves the transfer of up to 320,000 hectares of crown land to the Noongar Boodja Trust for cultural and economic development.
A payment of $50 million a year into the trust over 12 years is also included in the package, announced on Saturday.
The deal must be accepted by the majority of six native title claimant groups in the area, but the Tent Embassy, led by activist Marianne Mackay, says the offer is an insult because the group stands for sovereignty.
The Tent Embassy held weeks of protests at Perth's Heirisson Island last year after the previous deal was announced and is not party to the negotiations.
But the WA government says it will make reasonable efforts to take the group's views into account.
"Some Noongar people have made the decision not to take part in the negotiations with the government," the Department of Premier and Cabinet's native title unit said.
"All reasonable efforts will continue to be made to ensure that all eligible members of the Noongar community have the opportunity to be informed about the settlement negotiations and to have their views taken into account."
The WA government has given the groups six months to finalise the agreement and wants to start implementing it from July next year.
Negotiations have so far taken three and a half years.
If the deal is accepted, all native title rights to land in the area will be surrendered.
It compares to a previous package worth $1 billion, which included 200,000 hectares of land.
The Noongar people hail from territory that stretches from the Perth area to towns as far south as Albany.
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$1.3 billion Native Title offer divides Noongar people
The Stringer: $1.3 billion Native Title deal divides Noongar peoples
http://thestringer.com.au/1-3-billion-native-title-deal-divides-noongar-...
6 Jul 13: "Twenty months ago the Western Australian State Government offered the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) a one billion dollar package to settle native title over Noongar Country. Last week, the Government upped the ante with another $300 million but it is the final offer according to Premier Colin Barnett. ... Highly respected Whadjuk Nyungar Traditional Owner Richard Wilkes said most Elders have not been included and consulted. He certainly has not. ... Noongar Tent Embassy’s Marianne Mackay called the SWALSC a sham."
NAIDOC Week: 'Still a long way to go' for Indigenous rights
One of the early supporters of Canberra's Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Cheryl Buchanan, has revisited the site for the NAIDOC week celebrations, saying there's a lot more work to do for Indigenous rights.
One of the early supporters of Canberra's Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Cheryl Buchanan, has revisited the site for the NAIDOC week celebrations, saying there's a lot more work to do for Indigenous rights.
Cheryl Buchanan was part of this sovereignty movement in the 1970s. Later this week Cheryl Buchanan will be speaking at Inside Out, a conference looking at how Indigenous activism has changed since the early days.
Ms Buchanan says Australia could learn from the experience of other countries that have a similar past.
"History is put in its place, they talk about massacres and they talk about all of the terrible things that happened but then they learn how to celebrate things that are happening now because they are moving forward together. That's what we need to do here".
Ms Buchanan says 40 years ago the Aboriginal Tent Embassy focused on equality in health, education and land rights and she says still today they are still fighting the same battle.
NAIDOC Week