ABORIGINAL groups in box seat to get legal title over Victoria's public land, writes ROBERT CLARK

Many people living in regional Victoria would not know about a Bill that John Brumby is trying to slip through State Parliament, which will radically alter existing law on public land ownership and access in Victoria.

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The Traditional Owner Settlement Bill will allow the Government to recognise particular aboriginal groups as the traditional owners of any public land, and then confer legal title to the land or joint management rights on an entity representing that group.

The Bill will apply not just to land where there is or has been a native title claim, but to all reserved and unreserved public land in Victoria.

According to the Brumby Government, there are more than 12,000 Crown land reserves across Victoria, including showgrounds, foreshores, racecourses, public gardens and sportsgrounds.

The Bill will also apply to national parks, reserved forests and wildlife and nature reserves.

Even Parliament House and the MCG are on reserved Crown land.

Under the Bill, the government can confer title to any of this land on an entity representing traditional owners without any public debate or involvement and without any requirement for parliamentary approval.

The Bill goes even further where the land is subject to a native title claim or a court has ruled out native title.

It authorises the Government to confer on a traditional owner entity rights to be notified of, negotiate and/or veto various proposed future uses of land, such as public works and leases or licences for cattle watering, timber logging, minerals exploration or tour groups.

Again, no parliamentary approval is required.

Once existing leases, licences and renewal rights expire, any new arrangements will need to comply with the agreement signed with the traditional owner entity.

Those seeking to negotiate to use public land will be required to pay the traditional owner entity's negotiation costs and can also be required to make a community benefit payment to the entity.

John Brumby may argue that title over reserved public land is given only on condition that the traditional owner entity immediately transfers back to the state the right to use, control and manage the land.

However, if the Brumby Government wants the power to give title to the MCG or Parliament House or any other reserved public land to a traditional owner group, even in a purely symbolic way, all Victorians should be able to have a say in that decision.

The Bill is also unfair to many aboriginal Victorians.

It allows the Government to "pick winners" - recognising one indigenous group as traditional owners and excluding other groups simply on the say-so of the Attorney-General and with no right of appeal, or forcing multiple native title claimants to be treated as a single group.

Many indigenous communities have already had bad experiences of the Government picking winners under national park and aboriginal heritage laws, and they don't want this law to exclude them even further from affinity with their traditional lands.

The Brumby Government says the Bill is aimed at resolving native title claims and providing traditional owners with greater opportunities to be involved in the management of traditional lands.

These are worthwhile aims, and the Bill might deserve support if it included proper provision for public input and parliamentary ratification, and fair and open procedures for recognising traditional owners.

However, debate on the Bill should not proceed in Parliament until the community has been able to have a say about its fundamental and far reaching implications.

  • Robert Clark is Victoria's opposition attorney-general spokesman