Iga Warta

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:10): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation questions about the Iga Warta land dispute.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: The minister would be aware of the Iga Warta Homelands Aboriginal Corporation and its commendable tourism venture on Adnyamathanha country in the Northern Flinders Ranges. He would also be aware of the ongoing dispute that Iga Warta has with the Nepabunna community and the Aboriginal Lands Trust. Iga Warta have identified two possible mechanisms which would allow them to operate without hindrance. They are the granting of freehold title to the Iga Warta Corporation or the transfer of ownership to the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association which is a native title body corporate with custody over the Iga Warta area. My questions to the minister are:

1. What is his understanding of the dispute, and does he believe the Iga Warta have a reasonable claim to title over the land it currently subleases?

2. Does the minister have the power to grant freehold title or to transfer ownership of the land to the ALTA?

3. If not, does the minister have another way to resolve this long-running dispute?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for his questions and his interest in these matters generally. The answer is, yes, I am aware of the quite legitimate ambitions of the community at Iga Warta. Two or three months ago I stayed at Iga Warta and had very in-depth discussions, as I have had with Vincent and Terrance and a number of people who are at Iga Warta, not just over the last year and a half but certainly I can remember discussions in a former life as a chief of staff to a former minister for Aboriginal affairs on issues—not exactly the same issues but certainly issues around Iga Warta and Nepabunna.

Certainly I appreciated the opportunity to have quite a number of hours to go through a whole range of issues as well as indulge in some very tasty kangaroo lasagne and quandong ice cream when I stayed there. So, yes, I am aware of the issues. I have had a number of meetings, whether it was in Adnyamathanha country or in Adelaide, with representatives from Iga Warta. I also met with the council at Nepabunna last time I was there to talk to them.

In relation to my powers to intervene, I will double-check but I am pretty sure that I don't have a power to unilaterally intervene and overturn a lease or insert myself into a lease that has been granted under the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act. I suspect that would require an intervention by the parliament to amend the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act for me to intervene in a lease that has been properly granted. I will double-check to see if that is not the case but I am pretty sure that it is.

I think the third question related to the merits of Iga Warta's ambition in terms of control over their own land. Certainly Iga Warta do a very good job. I have been there a number of times and stayed at Iga Warta a number of times. They have successfully run a tourism and cultural awareness venture for many years. I think their ambitions are not unreasonable. We have been working with Iga Warta and the Aboriginal Lands Trust, having numerous conversations certainly over the last 12 months, and we will continue doing that to try to make sure that Iga Warta can realise their reasonably held aspirations and, at the same time, take into account the needs and desires of Nepabunna.

I know the honourable member is aware that there are no easy answers in a dispute like this and this dispute in particular, where there are two very closely located groups, one that from quite some time ago has a headlease from the Aboriginal Lands Trust, and the other that has a sublease of that headlease. We have been working with the groups and we will continue to do so.