PILA NATURE RESERVE
405. Ms D.G. D'ANNA to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's historic support for last week's native title
determination in relation to the Pila Nature
Reserve. Can the minister outlined to the house why the significant native
title achievement is so important to the traditional owners, the
Yarnangu people, and advise the house of the economic, social and cultural
opportunities that the determination will deliver for Aboriginal people?
Dr A.D.
BUTI replied:
I thank the member for Kimberley for
the question and for her interest in this area.
Last
week, I had the pleasure to travel to the Mina Mina claypan, which is about 1 300
kilometres from Perth, for a very significant
event. For the first time in Australian history, under what is called a section
47C of the Native Title Act, traditional native title land that had been
extinguished was returned to the traditional owners, the Yarnangu people, who
prefer to be called the Pila Nature Reserve traditional owners.
Many years ago, back in the 1960s,
they were moved off that land due to the government conducting nuclear testing.
When they returned, they returned to a land known then as the Gibson Desert
Nature Reserve. Under the Native Title Act,
the High Court determined sometime around 2002 or 2004 that nature reserves
extinguished native title. The Pila Nature Reserve traditional owners were able
to visit their traditional lands, but they were not the native title owners, so
they were unable to use that land for economic benefits or for many of their
cultural practices. It took a long
20-odd years of struggle to get to the stage we got to last week when, as I said,
for the first time, we had a consent determination that native title be returned to the
Pila Nature Reserve traditional owners. I would like to thank my former parliamentary colleague and then minister,
Ben Wyatt, and also the Minister for Environment at the time, Hon Stephen
Dawson. I also thank the most recent former Minister for Environment and also
the current Minister for Environment. It is a bit confusing. They sit next to
each other, for those who do not understand what I am saying! I thank them for
their continued support in this matter. Ministers Wyatt and Dawson went to Mina
Mina in 2020 to sign the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve compensation and
settlement agreement with the traditional owners, which also meant that the
name of the reserve was to change to the Pila Nature Reserve. Pila is a traditional
Aboriginal word that honours the area's cultural significance and
describes the geography of the area. It means plains or flat country.
An interesting story about the very
significant event last week, which, as I said, is the first determination of
its type in Australia, is that the Federal Court judge, who was really keen to
be there, unfortunately tested positive for COVID
in Kalgoorlie that morning, so his 23-year-old associate came dressed up in the
judge's robes and read out the
determination. It was a rapid promotion for a 23-year-old associate to be
reading out the first consent determination in regard to this matter! It was absolutely fantastic. The
honourable former Labor Leader of the Opposition Eric Ripper was also with me
because he had responsibility for native title matters when he was Deputy
Premier back in the Carpenter and Gallop governments. The look of gratitude and
happiness on the faces of the traditional owners and the people who have fought
this battle for so long was absolutely fantastic. I congratulate the Yarnangu
people—the Pila Nature Reserve traditional owners—and also Ben
Wyatt and Stephen Dawson for the roles they played in this historic moment last
week.
The SPEAKER: The Leader of
the Opposition with the last question.