Dr LIM - 1997-05-01
Alice Springs has been landlocked with native title claims for a long time, causing major land shortages in the town. I was pleased to hear about the Prime Minister's 10-point plan on native title. It may resolve some of the principal native title issues which are preventing further development in the Alice Springs region. What action will the minister take to alleviate the shortage of land in Alice Springs created by native title?
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the honourable member would be very much aware of the impact that native title has had on Alice Springs. We are concerned about the impact it is having on Darwin, but it has impacted on Alice Springs for much longer in terms of the restriction placed on development of residential land and its release for people in Alice Springs and the effect that that has had on families and young people trying to establish their own homes, and the way it has held back Alice Springs.
The fact that these are ambit claims was probably best demonstrated yesterday by the director of the Central Land Council, Tracker Tilmouth, who was clutching at straws as he sought still to hold up development and maintain that landlocked situation in Alice Springs. On the 10-point plan, he said that it would not be retrospective and would not affect claims over cities and towns. However, our advice from the federal government is that it will be retrospective in terms of native title claims over land in towns and cities. This means we are now able to deal with land in Alice Springs. I have issued instructions to my department to proceed immediately with the preparation of documents for the release of some 400 lots of land in the Larapinta stages 4 and 5 subdivisions. The Stephens Road site in the Mt John Valley area can also be released for residential development, as well as the 11 000 m2 site in Head Street for a proposed R2 zoning.
If any members do not believe that native title has had an impact on Territorians, which is the position adopted by the Leader of the Opposition and her colleagues, I can assure them that it has. I will demonstrate how it has impacted on the people of Alice Springs ...
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr REED: The member for Stuart interjects. He is not interested in the wellbeing of the people of Alice Springs. This government is. The average price of an R1 block in Alice Springs in 1994 was $44 500. In January 1997, it was $64 800. The principal reason for that increase was that a native title claim, lodged over vacant government land in Alice Springs, prevented the government from being able to release land for development. That put a great financial burden on the people of Alice Springs and virtually stopped development in that town.
The opposition should be ashamed of itself for supporting such a policy. It still supports it. Alice Springs people should be aware of that. All that Labor wants to do is negotiate. That will not work. We are ready to go. As soon as the 10-point plan goes through the federal parliament, this government will be releasing land in Alice Springs for residential development. We have the interests of the people of Alice Springs in mind and we will be responsive to their needs. Land will be available in the very near future, thanks to the 10-point plan and the effort that the Chief Minister has put into negotiating with the Prime Minister to overcome the encumbrances native title has placed on the release of land, not only in Alice Springs but elsewhere in the Territory.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the honourable member would be very much aware of the impact that native title has had on Alice Springs. We are concerned about the impact it is having on Darwin, but it has impacted on Alice Springs for much longer in terms of the restriction placed on development of residential land and its release for people in Alice Springs and the effect that that has had on families and young people trying to establish their own homes, and the way it has held back Alice Springs.
The fact that these are ambit claims was probably best demonstrated yesterday by the director of the Central Land Council, Tracker Tilmouth, who was clutching at straws as he sought still to hold up development and maintain that landlocked situation in Alice Springs. On the 10-point plan, he said that it would not be retrospective and would not affect claims over cities and towns. However, our advice from the federal government is that it will be retrospective in terms of native title claims over land in towns and cities. This means we are now able to deal with land in Alice Springs. I have issued instructions to my department to proceed immediately with the preparation of documents for the release of some 400 lots of land in the Larapinta stages 4 and 5 subdivisions. The Stephens Road site in the Mt John Valley area can also be released for residential development, as well as the 11 000 m2 site in Head Street for a proposed R2 zoning.
If any members do not believe that native title has had an impact on Territorians, which is the position adopted by the Leader of the Opposition and her colleagues, I can assure them that it has. I will demonstrate how it has impacted on the people of Alice Springs ...
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr REED: The member for Stuart interjects. He is not interested in the wellbeing of the people of Alice Springs. This government is. The average price of an R1 block in Alice Springs in 1994 was $44 500. In January 1997, it was $64 800. The principal reason for that increase was that a native title claim, lodged over vacant government land in Alice Springs, prevented the government from being able to release land for development. That put a great financial burden on the people of Alice Springs and virtually stopped development in that town.
The opposition should be ashamed of itself for supporting such a policy. It still supports it. Alice Springs people should be aware of that. All that Labor wants to do is negotiate. That will not work. We are ready to go. As soon as the 10-point plan goes through the federal parliament, this government will be releasing land in Alice Springs for residential development. We have the interests of the people of Alice Springs in mind and we will be responsive to their needs. Land will be available in the very near future, thanks to the 10-point plan and the effort that the Chief Minister has put into negotiating with the Prime Minister to overcome the encumbrances native title has placed on the release of land, not only in Alice Springs but elsewhere in the Territory.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016