Renewed calls from Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for a federal inquiry into the performance of Aboriginal land councils have been condemned as a “political stunt”.
Key points:
- Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says land councils are neglecting traditional owners
- Member for Lingiari claims Senator Price has a personal vendetta against land councils
- The Central Land Council says an inquiry would only duplicate existing audits
Senator Price introduced the motion to the Senate on Wednesday, claiming land councils were neglecting traditional owners.
She called for action to assess their “effectiveness, efficiency and credibility”.
But Federal Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour said land councils were already under significant scrutiny.
She claimed there was no merit to Senator Price’s calls, and argued they stemmed from a “personal vendetta” against land councils.
“[Senator Price] has a responsibility as the shadow spokesperson for Indigenous Australians to talk to everybody to try and look at a pathway forward to deal with the intractable problems that we see on the ground in our communities, rather than the political stunt that she’s done three times into the Senate to get a review into land councils,” Ms Scrymgour said.
“Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and myself, we have declared that we are traditional owners, for our respective countries.
“Senator Price has never declared that. She has a conflict of interest here … and she needs to be challenged on that.”
Senator Price had argued in the Senate on Wednesday that the councils were not effectively representing traditional owners, and lacked transparency. She also detailed several instances where her questions about land councils had been left on notice.
“What do they have to hide?” Senator Price said.
“These organisations need to be held accountable, but they and the government that funds them refuse to answer our questions.”
Traditional owners ‘don’t feel represented’
Senator Price said her proposed inquiry would investigate the land councils’ governance structures, as well as their effectiveness in consulting with and delivering for traditional owners.
She said many traditional owners had expressed concerns to her, and “didn’t feel listened to or represented” by land councils.
But Les Turner, chief executive of the Central Land Council (CLC) in Central Australia, claimed a Senate inquiry would be “wasteful” and only duplicate existing independent probes.
He said his council had already undergone an “intensive” performance audit by the Australian National Audit Office two months ago — just one in a series of audits this year.
“NT land councils are among the most successful and most reviewed organisations in the country,” Mr Turner said.
“The CLC has demonstrated over and over that we are well-governed, transparent and effective.”
Proposal is ‘more red tape’
Mr Turner urged the Senate to reject the review motion.
“I wonder what is driving such attempts to tie successful organisations up in more red tape,” he said.
“An additional review would force us to direct our limited resources away from serving some of the poorest Australians.”
Ms Scrymgour called for the NT’s Country Liberal Party (CLP) to confirm whether it backed Senator Price’s motion.
“For a long time, the CLP has fought tooth and nail against land rights in the Northern Territory, since self-government,” she said.
“Now if Jacinta is doing the bidding of members of the CLP, then Lia Finocchiaro, as the head of the CLP in the Northern Territory, needs to declare for and on behalf of Aboriginal people, that this is their policy.”