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2022-2023-2024
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
THE SENATE
Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory)
Amendment (Scheduling) Bill 2024
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by the authority of the Minister for Indigenous Australians,
Senator the Hon Malarndirri McCarthy)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GENERAL OUTLINE........................................................................................... 1
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT ................................................................. 1
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS....................... 2
NOTES ON CLAUSES ......................................................................................... 4
ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS (NORTHERN TERRITORY)
AMENDMENT (SCHEDULING) BILL 2024
GENERAL OUTLINE
The Bill adds an area of land that is detailed in the Canteen Creek Area Indigenous
Land Use Agreement (Wakaya Alyawarre Land) to Schedule 1 of the Aboriginal Land
Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 so that the Wakaya Alyawarre Land can be
granted as Aboriginal land.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
The measures in the Bill have nil or negligible financial impact.
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STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny)
Act 2011
Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Land Scheduling)
Bill 2024
The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Amendment (Scheduling) Bill 2024
(Bill) is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the
international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary
Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Bill
The Bill adds an area of land that is detailed in the Canteen Creek Area Indigenous
Land Use Agreement (Wakaya Alyawarre Land) to Schedule 1 of the Aboriginal Land
Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 so that the Wakaya Alyawarre Land can be
granted as Aboriginal land. The relevant land comprises approximately 484,000
hectares near Canteen Creek community, approximately 275km south east of Tennant
Creek.
Human rights implications
The long title of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 is 'An Act
providing for the granting of Traditional Aboriginal Land in the Northern Territory for
the benefit of Aboriginals, and for other purposes'.
The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 is discriminatory in nature
as it confers rights and privileges upon Aboriginal Australians, which are
discriminatory as against non-Aboriginal Australians. That discrimination is the
essence of the Act; it is the foundation on which it is structured. However, the beneficial
nature of this discrimination enables the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory)
Act 1976 and this Bill to be each classified as a 'special measure' within the meaning
of paragraph 4 of article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination (the CERD) (and subsection 8(1) of the Racial
Discrimination Act 1975).
The CERD provides that special measures are deemed not to be discrimination. Special
measures are designed to 'secure to disadvantaged groups the full and equal enjoyment
of human rights and fundamental freedoms'.1
This Bill advances and engages the following rights:
1
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation
No. 32: The Meaning and Scope of Special Measures in the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (August 2009), at paragraph [11].
2
• the right to self-determination (recognised in article 1 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR));
• rights to equality and non-discrimination (recognised in article 2 of the CERD,
and article 26 of the ICCPR); and
• the right to enjoy and benefit from culture (recognised in article 27 of the
ICCPR).
This Bill is necessary to recognise and ensure that relevant Aboriginal people have the
right to own and control their traditional Aboriginal lands. The limitation on the rights
of non-Aboriginal Australians is reasonable, necessary and proportionate to the policy
desire to promote the equal enjoyment of the engaged rights by Aboriginal Australians.
Conclusion
This Bill is compatible with human rights.
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator the Hon Malarndirri McCarthy
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ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS (NORTHERN TERRITORY)
AMENDMENT (SCHEDULING) BILL 2024
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 - Short title
Clause 1 sets out how the new Act is to be cited, that is, as the Aboriginal Land Rights
(Northern Territory) Amendment (Scheduling) Act 2024.
Clause 2 - Commencement
Clause 2 provides that the new Act will commence on the day after Royal Assent.
Clause 3 - Schedules
Clause 3 provides that each Act that is specified in a Schedule is amended or repealed
as set out in that Schedule, and any other item in a Schedule has effect according to its
terms.
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Schedule 1 - Amendments
Summary
This Schedule adds a further parcel of land to Schedule 1 to the Aboriginal Land Rights
(Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Land Rights Act).
Background
This Schedule adds a further parcel of Northern Territory land to Schedule 1 to the
Land Rights Act. This will allow the land in question to be granted as Aboriginal land
to an appropriate Aboriginal Land Trust under sections 10 and 12 of the
Land Rights Act.
Explanation of the changes
Item 1 - Part 4 of Schedule 1 (after the item relating to Wave Hill Locality)
Item 1 amends Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the Land Rights Act by inserting a reference to
an additional portion of land (Northern Territory Portions 8009 and 8383 delineated on
Survey Plans S2022/073A and S2022/073B lodged with the Surveyor-General,
Darwin, and containing an area of approximately 484,000 hectares) known as Wakaya
Alyawarre and enables the land to be granted as Aboriginal land.
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