Curtin Springs, 19 April 2015 – I am alarmed and shocked at the deceit, corruption and looting against the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Executives, the Peoples and the APY communities, being perpetrated by outside organisations, bureaucrats and other agents with vested interest, who argue that they are representing APY Peoples' best interests. It is apparent that the administrative support personnel of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands are failing in their due diligence to protect the Executive Board from this corruption, by not being transparent and honest. It is thirty years since I was last in Anangu Country when I was engaged in some Anangu Law Business. After having been invited to have discussions with key Lawmen, I am astounded that they are not properly aware of how their Country is being administered.
The Executive Board of Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara, established under the Anangu
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act,
as recently amended in December 2014, appears to have been targeted by the
South Australian government and organisations such as the APY Council of
Elders, which is funded independently of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara Executive governance, and appear to be running interference with
their own political agendas, on behalf of vested interests. Another
organisation that is at odds with the APY Executive Board is the Pitjantjatjara
Council. It is very apparent that the APY Executive Board established by the
APY Land Rights Act are indeed the sole power brokers under whiteman's law
throughout all their Country. There is no reference to the role of other
purported APY organisations, who it appears from all the paperwork have signed
off on Country in a deceitful corrupt way. For example, there was a meeting at
Maple Creek, where some questionable business took place, but now has serious
ramifications for the Peoples of the APY without them being fully informed of
what would flow from what took place at this gathering. More importantly, it would
be interesting to look at the public record of this gathering that was
submitted, if at all, to the APY Executive for their knowledge and
ratification.
Most
Aboriginal Nations around this country would love to be in the position of the
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Peoples, who have inalienable freehold
title, under whiteman's law, to their Country. APY Peoples have the potential
to operate as an independent sovereign Nation state by virtue of the fact that
they run an entry permit system (equivalent to a visa) which has to be paid
for, and they have veto powers in respect to applicants seeking to come into
their country, including developers. They also have sole power to employ
whoever they want for whatever purpose. APY Law and Culture people are the sole
governance of all Anangu Law throughout Anangu territories and there is no
limit to the Lawmen and women in respect to decision making.
But when
the veil of power is lifted from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara governance,
it is evident that the Lawmen and women of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara Executive Board do not understand the extent of their unlimited
powers, which are only restricted by their own Law. They are certainly not
fully aware of the extent of external meddling, which results in widespread
looting. They have not yet exercised their authority and power to ensure that
decisions made under the whiteman's system are not inconsistent and repugnant
to their own ancient Laws and Culture. This is the challenge that is before
them, to understand how the two worlds coexist and which law is paramount in
respect to their Country.
Anangu
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara's immersion in their own language, Law and
culture means there is also a lack of non-Aboriginal education in order to
understand and anticipate how the white system permits the con artists and
tricksters to do their thing, thereby maximising their own profits at the
expense of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Peoples, who own the
lands, but only receive the crumbs that fall from the table of exploitation.
If anyone
is truly interested in understanding how to submerge and confuse Aboriginal
people, one only has to look at the operations that are existing on and within
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, all of which are overseen by the
South Australian government itself. There is now an Aboriginal Minister of
Aboriginal Affairs, but his minders cleverly manipulate who he talks to on the
ground, and cleverly vet the information he receives, which means he gets a
sanitised version only. Evidence shows he only meets white bureaucrats and
carefully selected Anangu, which is what happened while I was on APY lands
during my recent visit.
To see
the extent of activities and the vast areas of lands that have been signed off
by competing Anangu organisations, which are primarily run by non-Aboriginal
people together with some Anangu, you only need to go to www.atns.net.au,
the online database of agreements, treaties and negotiated settlements. Many of
the community and grassroots people of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara lands are not aware of what is registered on this database. It
appears that just about the whole of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara
Lands have been negotiated away through ILUAs (Indigenous Land Use agreements)
and other agreements without the full free prior and informed consent of the
true owners. A question that can also be asked here is whether these ILUAs and
contracts have been translated into the Peoples' own language. Even the
Northern Territory Central Land Council (CLC) is complained about by the APY
people for their involvement in APY lands, where some Anangu express alarm and
frustration at how mining permissions and land leases were signed off with the
assistance of the CLC, without proper process and due regard.
The
agreements, treaties and negotiated settlements database mentioned does not
include the unscrupulous operations of non-Aboriginal people, who run the
cattle paddock programs, that is stock stations owned by the Anangu
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara. The agistment programs need to be reviewed ASAP
because the cattle industry is a very fast growing industry with great wealth at
the end of the line, if you have the right cattle in the right condition.
Having had discussions on this I am afraid to say that the people of the APY
have little knowledge of the extent of the non-Aboriginal people's operations
on their lands. It is easy to cheat the people considering the size and
openness of the Country. Farmers who are agisting cattle are not necessarily
oversighted by the people of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, who
have too much trust in other people's honesty.
From
running cattle on our own farm back Home, on our Euahlayi country in northwest NSW, I
understand how easy it would be to muster large numbers of wild cleanskin
mickeys throughout APY lands and then for the non-Anangu to keep them and mark
them with the National Livestock Tags as their own cattle, thereby increasing
their own herd significantly at the expense of Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara. In the old days this type of cattle duffing would warrant a
person being detained, shot or hanged! There is no John Wayne in the APY lands!
There are
so many things that are wrong and can be rectified.
In
conclusion, it is worth stating that the Lawmen and women have sought my advice
on how to assert their Law and Culture so that it supercedes that of the white
law on and within their Country. It is my personal opinion that there is a
legal method by which the APY Peoples' Law and Culture can be used to override
the imposed Western law, and that future governance on and within APY lands can
and should be subject to the Law of the Land, which is Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara Law and Culture. The current extent of criminal usurpation of
their Country and their resources is without proper consent. Moreover, it is
wrong for the government of South Australia to impose a royalty sharing
structure upon the APY people. This is their choice, not the government's. What
we have on APY lands presently is the modern day clash between whose law is the
Law of the Land.
It is time for our people to call in outside help. We need international independent investigators and observers to report on the extent of government corruption and coercion along with the absolute dishonest practices of some lawyers, who purport to be advocating on Anangu's behalf, but never reveal the truth and full extent of Anangu's inherent rights. Native Title is a farce and the lawyers and judges are manipulating the judiciary and court systems to absolutely deride the legal rights of Aboriginal Peoples, not just on APY lands, but throughout Australia. In this regard, I can assist the key Tjilpi/Lawmen and Law women to seek a report by the UN Rapporteur on the Independence of lawyers and judges in Australia.
The
Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs) signed in South Australia to date are a
classic fraud against the people, because under the Native Title Act,
ILUAs cannot legally grant an absolute right to all future acts. 'Future
acts' is a legal misnomer. There has to be an ILUA for each specific action or
development. It is illegal to have an ILUA that covers all 'future acts',
whatever they may happen to be at a later date. Each new project or mine
expansion constitutes a new act, requiring a Section 29 Notice under the Native
Title Act. What the lawyers have done in getting people to sign ILUAs to
authorise all future acts is questionable and corrupt, all of which can
be challenged in the courts. This is a problematic situation, because currently
lawyers cannot be fined or prosecuted for their own wrongdoings and/or
incorrect advice.
Clearly,
the South Australian government administrators, bureaucracy and the legal
fraternity have no conscience when it comes to revealing the full inherent
rights of Anangu. I ask how can this be possible? Do non-Aboriginal people in
these professions have so much distaste and condescending racism?
Another
observation that horrifies me is to see how white people, who seek to work with
Anangu in service delivery, are accommodated and lock themselves within
compounds with ten foot high mesh fencing with barbed wire on top. I saw this
in South Africa during the apartheid regime. If people are so worried about a
perceived threat, why go to APY lands, if you cannot relate and become properly
associated with the people for whom you work? If you want to see South African
styled apartheid then go to APY lands and to the Uluru and Mutujulu precincts.
Even the Police stations are fenced in. The only thing that's missing are armed
guards and German Shepherd guard dogs!
Umuwa,
the heart of the administration centre of APY lands, is limited to some
ancilliary Aboriginal staff, the rest are non-Aboriginal people, many of whom
live there in the fenced in compounds to protect themselves from the perceived
alleged violence? But Umuwa does have a small visitors centre for the APY
Executive and visitors who stay there when they come for meetings, but there is
no available phone signal (apart from satellite) at the visitors centre, or any
area outside the administration complexes, at Umuwa.
On
another matter, it would be very interesting to have a look at the costs being
charged against Peoples of the APY lands by private contractors, for example,
the contractor who is supposed to maintain the roads throughout APY lands. The
question that needs to be asked about the $6 million to maintain the homelands
and communities in APY lands, recently announced by Commonwealth Minister
Scullion, how will this money really benefit the Anangu on the ground in their
homelands and communities? That is to say, will they be offered to the
contractors or will jobs flow to Anangu people? I have had the opportunity to
learn that, like Aboriginal people throughout Australia, the young men and
women have been trained in many and various training schemes, eg. when the old
Community Development Employment Program (CDEP- work for the dole) was
operating. They have Certificates 1 - 4 in all sorts of job descriptions suited
to the local community needs. It cannot be said that the people are not aware
of the possible job tasks that lie ahead in their communities. In fact, Minister
Scullion's minders should recommend that as a matter of primacy a job task and
skills audit be conducted right throughout APY lands, which will then identify
local expertise and thereby ensure jobs for local people, keeping much needed
capital in the communities, not to mention the pride and dignity that will flow
from such an operation.
The
existing alternative is the way scarce resources are quickly eaten up by the
private non-Aboriginal contractors, who themselves build their own compounds
away from the Anangu communities and no profits flow from the capital to Anangu
people themselves, who are being deprived of employment.
How in
the world, I ask, can Aboriginal people gain a formal association and trust
with non-Aboriginal people, when they continue to choose to lock themselves
away in fenced off secured compound areas for non-Aboriginal people only? Maybe
the Ministers, State and Federal, would be better served to teach the service
deliverers that Aboriginal people are actually human, talented and don't
appreciate imposed apartheid conditions.
So much for reconciliation and recognise!!
Contact:
Convenor and Joint Spokesperson of the Sovereign Union of First Nations and Peoples in Australia, Head of State of the Euahlayi Peoples Republic and co-founder of the 1972 Aboriginal Embassy
ghillar29@gmail.com 0427 292 492 www.sovereignunion.mobi
Sovereign Union of First Nations and Peoples in Australia
Asserting Australia's First Nations Sovereignty into Governance
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