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Early last month, hundreds of Adnyamathanha people began travelling from their rocky ancestral lands around the Flinders Ranges and from elsewhere in South Australia to gather at Port Augusta, a town known as the nation’s crossroads.
As the evening of April 9 drew in
, there was mounting anticipation. Some found shelter with relatives or friends; others unrolled swags as evening temperatures plunged in the desert air.
Hope had drawn them – hope that when the next day dawned there would be light shed, at last, on the millions of dollars from mining revenues which had poured through a maze of entities associated with the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association (ATLA), the body set up to manage their native title rights.
âWhere did the money go?â: How native title failed a community
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May 3, 2021 â 5.00am
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Early last month, hundreds of Adnyamathanha people began travelling from their rocky ancestral lands around the Flinders Ranges and from elsewhere in South Australia to gather at Port Augusta, a town known as the nationâs crossroads.
As the evening of April 9 drew in
, there was mounting anticipation. Some found shelter with relatives or friends; others unrolled swags as evening temperatures plunged in the desert air.
Hope had drawn them â hope that when the next day dawned there would be light shed, at last, on the millions of dollars from mining revenues which had poured through a maze of entities associated with the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association (ATLA), the body set up to manage their native title rights.
Where did the money go? : How native title failed a community smh.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smh.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Aboriginal leaders in South Australia say they want to see the “highest level of accountability and transparency” in community organisations, but have criticised an inquiry into issues of governance approved by the Marshall government last week.
The South Australian Parliament approved a formal inquiry into the “governance standards” of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations across the state, after a campaign from Aboriginal community members.
The inquiry will review the accountability, transparency, cultural authority and financial obligations of community controlled organisations and will be conducted by the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee.
It’s a move that has been criticised by Indigenous leaders across the state as “undermining” Aboriginal people’s ability to self-govern and impeding on their path to self-determination.
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A group of senior Indigenous men and women are calling on the federal government for a wide-ranging royal commission into Indigenous corporations and statutory bodies to fix what they say is a âbroken systemâ.
It follows last weekâs move by South Australiaâs Liberal government to back a parliamentary inquiry into local Indigenous corporations, focusing on governance standards following a series of scandals and failures.
The former head of the National Native Title Tribunal, Raelene Webb QC, told
The Sydney Morning Herald and
The Age that the system should be overhauled, but rather than a royal commission she wants to see âopen dialogueâ with Indigenous communities to design a better blend of âWestern-style corporate governanceâ with traditional land management.