Antinuclear

INDIGENOUS Land Corporation drafts Bill to protect its funding

Leaders issue $2bn challenge for Abbott PATRICIA KARVELAS
THE AUSTRALIAN  MARCH 25, 2014 INDIGENOUS Land Corporation chairwoman Dawn Casey has enlisted the support of the most powerful Aboriginal leaders to seek an emergency meeting with Tony Abbott to protect the $2 billion indigenous “land account”.

In an escalation of tensions between the government and ILC, the taxpayer-funded body has taken the unprecedented step of drafting its own bill that if passed into law would protect its funding from political tampering………

The land account and corporation were established after the High Court’s recognition of native title.

“More than 20 years on from the High Court’s Mabo decision and the passage of the Native Title Act, we want to remind Australians — particularly young people — that the land account was established as part of a national settlement that provided land-title certainty for all Australians,” Dr Casey said.

“The issues at stake are not just administrative arrangements, to be changed at the whim of a minister regardless of what political party.

“They go to the heart of the sort of nation we wish to be.” http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/leaders-issue-2bn-challenge-for-abbott/story-fn9hm1pm-1226863684812#

March 25, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics