A Review of the Reeves Report: Whither Land Rights in the Northern Territory? Wither Aboriginal Self-determination?

Conclusion

Reeves claims that his recommendations will build on land rights for the next generation.

In my Second Reading Speech I said of the Aboriginal Land Rights Bill, which I introduced into the House of Representatives:

"This Bill is a major step forward for Aborigines in the Northern Territory not only for this generation but also for future generations who will benefit from it. They will have a land base that will be preserved in perpetuity."

Will that objective of a land base preserved in perpetuity be achieved by the Reeves proposals?

Students of the history of the struggle for recognition of Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory will compare the story of the Woodward Aboriginal Land Rights Commission (1974), the Whitlam Land Rights Bill (1975) and the Fraser Government’s Land Rights Act (1976) with the Reeves’ Report and its radical proposals for changes to Aboriginal land rights in the Territory. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs will deliberate on Reeves’ proposed changes, and the Commonwealth Parliament may vote on them. But where will Aboriginal people themselves stand in all of this? How will they be informed of the vast ramifications for them of the proposals contained in nearly 1,000 pages of the Reeves Report and its Appendices? How will the voice of Aboriginal Territorians be heard by the policy makers, and by the Commonwealth Parliament? Above all, how will Aboriginal consent to any of the Reeves proposals be obtained before the policy makers decide and the legislators legislate?

Reeves has no mandate for change without Aboriginal consent. The Commonwealth Parliament has no mandate to change the Land Rights Act without Aboriginal consent. It is their land and their Act