Galarrwuy Yunupingu, AM, Chairman of the Northern Land Council The Importance of Economic Development Thank you to TOs – the Arrente people – for having us on your beautiful country. It is a privilege to be here: we take this opportunity of acknowledging your people for having this important gathering in your country. In November 2001, shortly after being elected, the new Martin government held the Territory’s first-ever Economic Development summit. The summit brought together Territorians from all walks of life and experts in economic issues from around the world. It was an exciting and eye-opening experience for me, and for the many other Aboriginal people who attended. However, Aboriginal people are more than just part of the NT economy. In your terms, we are both the landlords and the poor relations of this endeavour. Aboriginal people in the NT are in the unique position of having secure title to nearly half of the land base, but we are still the poorest people in Australia. It is these paradoxes which led me to suggest to the Chief Minister that we should hold a specific Indigenous Economic Forum. I am very proud to be here today alongside the Chief Minister at the start of two days dedicated to talking about these important issues. To Clare, I want to say how thankful I am for you listening to people like myself who have struggled in the past to have such a forum. The timing is right, and the government is in place. It is particularly appropriate that we meet the day before the 37th anniversary of the Equal Wages case – a case that changed the economic face of the NT forever by guaranteeing equal wages to Aboriginal pastoral workers. That case saw white man’s justice delivered to Aboriginal pastoral workers in the form of equal pay rather than slavery. But it also led to many Aboriginal people being kicked off their ancestral lands, some of them forever. It has only been through successful land claims that some people have finally been able to get back to those lands, and back into the industry which they loved so much. When I was growing up as a young man in the Sixties, I thought my teachers spoilt me a little bit. Of course, if you were a missionary teacher
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you had to do that. They were agents – if you were to take a kid into the corner today and hit him you would get charged for child abuse. I am one of the fruits of the missionary teacher. Thank goodness I left the rest of it and went the other way and I’m happy with that. I’m standing right in front of you as a leader who has seen the changes. The changes may be for the betterment of Aboriginal people but I’m still not convinced. In the Sixties there were changes taking place, particularly in the late Sixties even the Government took the initiative by granting Aboriginal people so-called citizenship for the first time in 200 years. Whether we liked it or not we were branded with it, that we had to become citizens equal to the white man. Whether the black man or woman liked it or not, we were given that right. Further down the line we were given equal rights and I didn’t know what that meant. I was still a young man trying to find out what this might cause - not only for my mum and dad and my sisters and brothers, but for all the black people in the Northern Territory. So I was full of wonderment at all these changes that were taking place. Then the Gurindji people walked out at Wave Hill, Daguragu, and I was in the middle of the land rights claim for Gove Peninsula, fighting against Nabalco and mounting a court challenge against the mining - rejecting the mining of Aboriginal land, as we believed it. Only to find at the end of it that we didn't have a land. It was taken by the boat people in New South Wales. Gurindji walked out, as I mentioned. Why did they walk out? They were looking for practical values and equal rights. They wanted a job that had to be rewarded properly - no more tobacco, no more damper, no more corned beef, no more piece of meat, but proper wages. Not only that, the people who ‘owned’ that country were wrongfully owning it. The Gurindji rejected the idea to work for somebody else. They wanted to work for themselves with equal wages and proper rewards for jobs done. That was their protest, it was simple and direct. Why did Aboriginal people want the land? So that we can use it and develop it the way we want it, the way we had always done long time before white fellas came to this country. Today we have land rights actually in our hand and people are still running around trying to change it, in Canberra that is, because they don’t want to see Aboriginal people be strong economically and independent in other ways. In Canberra people are still running around trying to make rules for
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Aboriginal people. Every which way you turn there is a string attached and Aboriginal people are still caught on strings, like puppets, and somebody like the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and others still want to play around with black fellas. We are told that we might be causing some upset if we talk flash and talk smart and talk big, we might frighten some of the business people. When they are by themselves they are all right, they sign up cheques and contracts and away they go and money flows freely, but when it comes to Aboriginal people there's some difficulties. I wonder why. Is it foreign? Is it because business people are not used to looking at black faces? Or is it something that they can't handle? Is it frightening? You figure that out. The classic example is the previous Government, who were well and truly frightened of Aboriginal people having land rights and when native title came, that made 'em worse. They kept running to Canberra trying to get all the big boys from there to give the Territory a hand and rescue, because these black fellas cannot flood the Northern Territory and take it away from white fellas. That is old colonial thinking. People in the Northern Territory must stop doing that and thinking that, because the Northern Territory now has a Government which will respond to the call of the people, I believe. It is no longer the Aboriginal people frightening Clare's Government, I feel. People should not be sitting round scratching their heads, not sure about whether Aboriginal people welcome them. This forum is about inviting that opportunity, inviting you to take that opportunity and for the technicians who are sitting here, I hope you make it work. Because all these ideas are not ideas anymore, we've been talking about ideas for the last 30 years and nothing has come about, nothing for black fellas anyway, because we are welfare people, or looked after by welfare people. I can’t let this opportunity go past without saying a few words about the recent question posed by the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Philip Ruddock. He asked “What have Aboriginal people got out of their land councils over the last twenty five years?” Clearly he thinks the answer is: nothing. I am here to say he could not be more wrong. I believe this forum will demonstrate how wrong.
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Land councils have delivered land rights, and the protection of those rights through a strong voice. Land Councils have given us control over what happens on our land, unlike the generation before us. Today, there are many vibrant and dynamic community enterprises and developments. You will hear about the internationally famous work of the NLC’s Caring for Country Unit which has facilitated community based land management and created over 200 jobs for rangers across the Top End. You will also hear about the cutting edge employment placement program which the NLC developed to get Aboriginal people sharing the benefits of the railway construction. There is also extensive mineral exploration on Aboriginal land, including 13 mineral leases which contribute 80% of the NT economy’s mining income. There are also a number of major projects about to get underway in the NT. It is important to note that of the government’s seven “major projects” to be “fast-tracked”, five involve significant use of Aboriginal land and involve forming a partnership with landowners. It's a big start, it's a huge start and we want to make it bigger and bigger and bigger still and that will not happen if the Government of the Northern Territory is not on the side of the Aboriginal people. At the economic summit in November 2001, I talked about a partnership and the possibility of Aboriginal people bringing our share to the table to develop the NT economy. It gives us the chance to free ourselves of the CDEP albatross hanging around our necks. How long do we have to be relying on CDEP? I’ll tell you what I think. I want to work away from CDEP and bring in proper development on Aboriginal communities. CDEP should be for developing resources and other opportunities, and for paying proper salaries. We need to make that money work for the better and that’s what I thought when I was growing up in the Sixties. I thought things were going to change for the better. From the worst to the better. The “share” I want to bring to the table is in the Aboriginal Benefits Account, which is a trust for the royalties from mining on our land. We’ve been waiting around for ABA money to be released to Aboriginal people for development and land management projects and it’s been sitting there for years. It contains millions of dollars but Mr Ruddock won’t release it. It is extremely disappointing that a week ago the four Land Councils met with Minister Ruddock and he continued to erect barriers to the release of this money.
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One major outcome that could come out of the next two days is a strong statement from this forum that the artificial obstacles to the innovative and beneficial use of these monies are removed. The ABA money offers Aboriginal people the potential to have a stake in development; we can use it as seed money to attract investment and further support. We can use it to address the dire need of our people for a better life and a better future. However, we cannot do it alone – a partnership is the only way to create something big from our little pot of money. Therefore, I call on the NT Government to look at what you can put on the table to support us in this effort. The negotiations over the future of our parks is a good example of how we could work together to create land management, enterprise and employment opportunities for our people, and benefit the Territory as a whole. We have the opportunity with the negotiation over 50 NT parks to create the world’s most innovative and effective co-management system. This would attract greater tourism and contribute enormously to our shared future. Thank you Clare for making a reality of my idea to hold this summit. Your vision and commitment is much appreciated. I look forward to much exciting and challenging discussion over the next two days. May I now introduce the Chief Minister of the NT – Clare Martin.
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