Government leadership sought on title

The Goldfields Land & Sea Council has warned that the region’s resources sector could be thrown into chaos within a month if the state government fails to find a viable solution to native title issues in the area.

Mining operators and Aboriginal communities in the Goldfields are treading an uncertain path following an ambiguous native title decision by Justice Lindgren in February.

Justice Lindgren dismissed the Wongatha native title claim but failed to determine whether native title did or did not exist in the area. The claim covered 160,000 square kilometres of land north of Kalgoorlie and was Australia’s largest native title case.

Justice Lindgren’s failure to determine the existence of native title has left the door open for future claims, which the GLSC said was a possibility if it could not strike a compromise with mining groups and the state government by implementing a streamlined agreements process.

GLSC executive director Brian Wyatt said his association had been in discussions with the government and mining representatives, but a solution was needed within the next month to stop the situation turning into “chaos”.

“The Wongatha judgement has left a gaping hole in heritage protection and the hole needs patching quickly,” Mr Wyatt said.

The GLSC wants the government to re-introduce the Regional Heritage Protection Agreement system, which operated in 2001, and were agreements struck between the state, mining companies and Aboriginal communities.

Mr Wyatt said that without a “sensible heritage protection” system in place, lodgement of new native title claims was likely because it was one of the few options left for Aboriginal people to secure protection of sites.

“We need leadership from the government and we need it now,” Mr Wyatt said. “We have maintained things for the moment but people are getting frustrated.”

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies policy director, Ian Loftus, said the adoption of a template-style agreement system could help provide certainty over land use in the Goldfields.

“Our greatest concern at the moment is getting (companies) on the ground and getting things happening,” Mr Loftus said. “The template could be the way forward.”

A spokesman for State Development Minister Eric Ripper did not return calls from WA Business News.

In a statement last week, Mr Ripper rejected GLSC claims that chaos was looming in the Goldfields.

Mr Ripper said the Wongatha case had no impact on heritage protection because native title processes were still available to Aboriginal communities.

“However, we want to encourage only those claims which have a realistic chance of success and to avoid, as much as possible, any new litigation,’ Mr Ripper said.

He said he was working with the GLSC and other stakeholders on a commonsense approach to any new claim applications.

Further fall-out from the Wongatha case could come from the lodgement of lots of small native title claims, after Justice Lindgren found it difficult to make a determination because of the scope of the Wongatha claim.