Aboriginal Affairs

WELCOME TO COUNTRY

Remove all funding and references to Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country.

PREFERENTIAL PROCUREMENT POLICIES TO BE ABOLISHED

Preferential government procurement policies based on race will be abolished. All businesses should be treated equally.

SPECIFIC GRANTS

Grants based on race will be abolished. This is estimated by the PBO to cost $6 billion per annum.

NATIVE TITLE

A key legal requirement for a successful Native Title claim is demonstrating continuous connection to the land or waters. This involves proving that the claimant group has maintained traditional laws and customs linked to the land since sovereignty, around 1788. Breaks in connection due to external factors, such as dispossession or forced removal, do not automatically invalidate a claim, but they can complicate the legal process. Courts assess whether the group's connection has been substantially maintained in accordance with their traditional laws and customs.

We have seen many organisations tied up in Native Title legal action, at significant cost and uncertainty to Australians.

People First will remove Indigenous claims over land where there has been no continuous association with the land. This is necessary so that Australians can move on as one people and give certainty to organisations and individuals that their land will not be subject to native title claims.

Additionally, People First will lobby that native title which has already been granted and does not overlap existing freehold, leasehold, mining lease or common land such as National parks or State Forests, can be converted into freehold land to be managed as the traditional owners see fit.