News / Events

The Aboriginal land council representing traditional owners in the Top End has filed a compensation claim against the Northern Territory Government over the effects of the McArthur River Mine on their native title rights and alleged damage to sacred sites.

The McGowan Government has today launched an innovative economic development pilot project to reform land tenure in remote communities to improve economic, health and social outcomes for Aboriginal people. The Land Activation Project is a place-based pilot project incorporating land tenure reform to set the stage for improved economic development outcomes, community governance, upgrade of essential services and to provide additional housing. ​Bidyadanga, Western Australia’s largest remote community, has been selected as the pilot site and the McGowan Government has committed $7.3 million towards the project.

WA has approved the lands transfer of Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs to the Forrests. Traditional owners' attempts to block the transfers were rejected by Minister Ben Wyatt.

Australia has never had a treaty with any of its Indigenous nations, but the Noongar people from WA may have just changed that.

The proposal by the native title organisation Nyamba Buru Yawuru (NBY) to build a commercial development next to the town's airport runway was rejected by the WA Planning Commission in June this year. The Planning Minister has overturned decisions and does allow an Indigenous-owned Bunnings development.

For the first time in Victoria’s history, the state government has handed back water to traditional owners, giving them rights to a river system they have managed sustainably for thousands of years. The two billion litres of water returned to the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) this month means traditional owners can now determine how and where water is used for cultural, environmental or economic purposes.

Tim Mallard is part of a new generation of Aboriginal workers embracing the heat and hard work of the pastoral industry, despite being raised in towns far from the dusty yards. The 18-year-old has only been riding horses for four months, but it feels like a rite of passage for the trainee stockman.

The Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation will use its $136,500 to up-skill Aboriginal people in the sustainable harvest of native flora and regenerative agriculture including seed collection and propagation, training and mentoring, and business development.

A significant economic development opportunity for the Yawuru people can now commence after the Minister for Planning approved a structure plan for a new bulky retail precinct in Broome. The bulky retail precinct is an economic development opportunity contained within the 2010 Yawuru Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUA).

Gomeroi Traditional Owner Polly Cutmore has vowed to continue to fight on behalf of the Gomeroi Nation against what she describes as the 'gas invasion', despite the Commonwealth government signing off on the Narrabri Gas Project this week.