PRIME MINISTER]
LUNCHEON FOR P-LUM7-INA PW7.' JT OPENiING
GOVE, N. T.
Speech by the Prime fiinistCer, the Rt-. -I'ic. Willia-m
icahon, 1 July, 1972.
Mr. Chairman Ihave bezeri ass) ciate-' with Cove evor siflco the beginning.
In those d-ays it w-. as F, wast In those av wo couldn't hav3
t~ oqhtthat the -heeaotr anh as now, taken nlace coul; 1
conceivably hav eventuateD-. So yrou can imagine how I fLcoming
to this arca anA' bein~ g able look me an-: see ' athas
hap;:? n&! 2 t-o( ay.
Your corperatinn is now th--third! largast -or at least
Gove is now tho thir,. 2-largor , t community in the Territory, and
judgecd by what we yev: , o far szcn, it a fnr cry from whiat I
call " roughing it" s in thi:-r. ays whc--n-I first camne up hero. And,
too, this is cnL, of the la-rgt:-. st sinale-stage -,. roje,-cts undertaken
by private: enterprise in Australia, an(! by far the largest in thc
Nort-Ae , n Territorv.
The Territory itself, as you know, is tho fastest growing
area in Lustralia with a nonulotion avcra-ing inlgot about
9 per cent ner annum. This' coulld have -occurred unless
.2c. loomrits like vc had made such1--'--henomenal growth possible.
that is not all, b:-cauoe t-hisl projcti.-uttndn
example of planneld dvlme'ofa rcmotc area, and it is boing
developed on th Arnhcm Land PAboriginal Reserve.
This unusual alnd novcl location ha5 and will continue to
raise problems. But our nroblems must bje understood and policies
de'veloped against t h1ihi S t oricanl fact that over th. e yr-ars large
areas of t-he Northern Territcry larcrar than the United-Kingdom
or, if you %, ant an Australian c. omoarison, larger than Vi1ctoria, have
ber sct aside as ri-serv-cs for thc uso and benofit of the 22,000
aborigincs who live he,: re.
Some; 110 12ees's of threa% and a half million acres have been
rovod on these rc~ szrv-. The great mjority of them have beon
aipprovold for aboriginal commnuniti. es. I. re:-cent times, we -avco
a'nproved threa pastoral le-aseri totalling about 5,500 square miles
to ab-original grounc.
It is now part of the history of Gove that the aborigines
on the Peninsula claimed hereditary rights to the land. The
Territory's Supreme Court ruled that Yirrkala aborigines have no
legal basis for their claim.
This decision led to a wide-ranging policy review. I think
I have been associated in a very deep way with that Committee And
we had that review in order to find out exactly what we could do
in order to ensure that not only do the aborigines have their
reserves of which they have permanent occupation, but as well, we
wanted to give them a tenure, which they would be able to use and
use for their advantages.
I was able to announce on Australia Day, the 26th of
January, exactly what we would do. A central feature of the
statement I then made was the proposal for a new form of general
purpose leaseholding. I wellremember at the Cabinet discussions
then and there deciding to call it a multi-purpose lease, because
not only was it going to be used for a variety of purposes that
were associated with mining or commercial purposes or anything else
that might be involved in it. But we had these multi-purpose leases
and we would grant them within aboriginal reserves, and those multipurpose
leases would, in fact, be renewed.
May I clear up something here, because if there is one
difficulty I have felt over the time I have been associated with
this, it is that either people didn't want to know, or if they
knew, they didn't want to do anything about it.
But what I want to emphasise to you is that the reserves
themselves are of permanent duration, and they are for the
aborigines themselves. Within that we have the general purpcse
or the multi-purpose leases within those reserves, and of course
they can be granted by the Loan Board on which there are two
aboriginal representatives, and they can be renewed if the
aborigine people themselves make the application and the Board
itself decides they should be renewed.
For these reasons, I fail to understand( again as one who
is profoundly committed to the ideal of giving the aborigine all
the opportunity all the opportunities that a country can give)
I cannot understand the constant cricicism we still have about what
the reserves mean, and what within those reserves the multipurpose
leases mean as well.
Now, at the same time as I mention these multi-purpose or
general purpose leases, I think probably my friend, Ralph Hunt would
prefer me to at the same time we decided on a policy
relating to mining on the aboriginal reserves.
We considered whether prospecting and development on
reserves should be prohibited for the present. We concluded it
was in the national interest as well as in the interests of the
aborigines themselves that mineral exploration and development
should continue. But within this context, we are consulting with
those aboriginal communities which might be affected, so that
their welfare can be fully taken into account before mining
applications are approved. / 3
6
In the case of exploration applications, we have consulted
with aborigines having bona fide tranditional interests in the
areasinvolved. The aim of these consultations has been to inform
them of the type of work to be undertaken and to identify any
sitescf special significance which must not be disturbed.
As well, if aboriginal communities are interested in
exploration rights, their applications may be granted preference,
subject only to their a1. ility to carry out an exploration
programme and not necessarily with sophisticated techniques.
In the case of most applications by non-aborigines, we
expect exploration right'-s will be granted, and that satisfactory
development conditions to protect the interests of aborigines can
be negotiated. Where this cannot be done, or the Aidministrator
believes development would be prejudicial to the aboriginal community;
development rights may have to be deferred, for the time being.
These guidelines for development are aimed at securing
the maximum involvement for aborigines in projects, and a real
participation by them in their benefits.
There is one other aspect of prospecting for minerals that
I thinkl should mention. It is import ant to know what mineralisation
occurs on these reserves. And the only way td find out is to have
a reasonable policy of exploration and development. We have done
this without sacrificing in any way the interests of our own people,
our own aborigines.
At Gove, royalties from the bauxite and alumina will. be
about $ 550,000 initially. Within a few years, they are likely to
exceed $ 1 million per annum. * This money will be paid into the
aborigines benefits trust fund for all aborigines in the Territory.
In our review arising from the land rights decision, the
Government decided that 10 per cent of the royalties from Gove
should go to the Yirrkala community because of the special impact
of this project on them.
When we announced that decision on Australia Day, no date
was specified. I a= now glad to announce that we approved
arrangements only last week for this 10 per cent payment to apply
retrospectively from the time of the first royalty on Gove bauxite,
that is, 31 March 1970. This means the first pra yment to the
Yirrkala community, which is now due and has been approved, will be
$ 21,488. This money w'ill be Paid into a special fund administered
by the local Aboriginal Council whose representatives of the
Yirrkala community are at this function today.
I have had the pleasure of talking to some of you
previously about a number of your problems and I was glad of the
opportunity to visit you yesterday. I realised then, more than I
have done before how the people of two separate and distinct
cultural backgrounds are living close together here.
One group, the aboriginal people, is in a less favourable
position to cope with the problems presented by a new community
nearby. This is not only a problem for government or the
management of Nabalco. f
a Sb
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It is a problem which concerns averone who lives here. It is a
problem that concerns the Northern Territory Administration, and my
colleague Ral'ph Hunt. It is a oroblem that concerns me and my
Government. In such situations a balance of interest naturally has to
be struck. I think that whenever questions of competing interest
arise, weinve to find a fair balance betwieen the interests of the
aborigines and the general community.
To put it very simply, those who come here to develop the
natural resources should be ' prepared and ever ready to understand
the views of the aboriginal People and to make concessions to their
views. Unless this is donu, the-result could be a social environment
unacceptable to any of the residents.
It is therefore most important that the European community,
the main workforce on the ground at Gove, develops good and happy
relations with the aborigines.
The development of Nhulunbuy is of particular interest to
me and my Government. It is one of the few examples where the
Commonwealth has participated directly with private enterpris~ e at
the initial development stage.
Nhulunbuy was built at a cost of $ 45 million of which the
Commonwealth is contributing nearly one-third. Private enter~ prise
has taken the balance and has shouldered the major burden of infrastructure
in this multi-million dollar project. Theirs bas been a
splendid contributiJon here for the benefit of the aborigines and
Nabalco alike.
Surely, and for me particularly as Prime ? finister, it is
worthy of special recognition that the Gove partnership has taken
big commercial and social risks and has been able to achieve our
goals in their own interests, and those of the nation, and they
have beaten all their target dates.
An objective of our policy in the negotiations with the
Cove Companies to which I would like to especially refer and I
want to do so again for background of contemporary social thought
and trends was our desire to minimise ecological changes in the
environment and to avoid the effects of Pollution.
Stringent conditions were imposed relating to reclamation
and regeneration. We will want to know that the companies affected
accepted these obligations more than five years ago, and they have
lived up to every single one of them.
This in itself provides the perfect answer to those who
claim for their own reasons that the Government and the mining
industry have given little thought in the past to environmental
matters. From their past performance, we know that the companies
have a genuine wish to co-onerate with the Government in every way,
not least in the fields of aboriginal advancement and environmental
protection.
It is worth recording and I can nrobably record this in a
stronger way than most n c. ope th--at the Cove Aqr. gornent was
negotiated long before my sttatemon-t of January aboriginaJ.
policies. Indeed, I can emnhisise, that this agreement in some ways
led to that statement.
We in tha Governmnt look forrward with confience to
continuad co-operation with the partnershi7 in this and in other
fields. Having said all this, may I now ask you every one of
you to please charge your glasses and (: riflk with me a toast
to the joint venturers for their cntri>. ution to the development
of our Nrth and to th1 devlonzont of our own country.