Land tenure and development in the Territory

The Northern Territory Government has committed to working with communities to provide an enabling environment that will support communities to engage in the Territory economy through economic development and home ownership opportunities.

Leanne will take you on a journey of where we have come from, where we are and where we are going to in terms of remote community land administration.

It’s been 40 years since the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 was enacted, during that time governments continued to operate almost autonomously and with little regard to the rights of Traditional Owners but that has now changed and in 2012 the Northern Territory Government negotiated an agreement that would see Traditional Owners compensated with a fair lease payment for the use of their land.

There has long been speculation that Aboriginal Land was an impediment to development; that assumption can almost certainly be laid to rest as dealings on Aboriginal land have been simplified through establishing mainstream systems that are not bogged down in red tape.