Land councils fear law change

ABORIGINAL land councils in the Hunter Region say they could be crippled if proposed changes to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act are passed.The groups united yesterday to accuse the State Government of rushing the changes through without proper consultation.An alliance of 11 Newcastle and Sydney local Aboriginal land councils is strongly opposed to the amendments, which would give the NSW Aboriginal Land Council greater control over the land holdings of local land councils and any potential sales or deals with developers.Alliance spokesman, Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council chairman Bob Morgan, said the new laws were a slap in the face because they eroded the autonomy Aboriginal people had established in recent years."I don't know of any other group of people with the same level of regulation," Dr Morgan said.Dr Morgan said he thought the changes would hurt land councils, because increased regulation would turn off development partners.Just as upsetting to local Aboriginal groups are plans to heavily levy land councils if they sell land to developers.The levies will then be put into a community fund to help support struggling land councils in remote areas.But Dr Morgan said the levy effectively forced sustainable land councils to support remote Aboriginal communities, a job he says should be the responsibility of the Government."We support and acknowledge the need of disadvantaged local Aboriginal land councils to be more adequately resourced, but this is not the way to redress the issue," he said.Local land councils have also expressed their concern they have been left out of the loop with regard to the changes.A spokesman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Lynch said yesterday that a "thorough process of discussions" had been held, including with officials from the NSW Aboriginal Land Council.