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Queensland Conservation Council native title, land and rights object and policy

Object 3.14 in the Queensland Conservation Council Articles of Incorporation

To fully recognise the native title rights and traditional land relationships of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to work in consultation with rightful indigenous communities in regards to identification, protection and management of the conservation values of traditional lands and waters.

Queensland Conservation Council Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Rights Policy (superceded by the 2002 Protected Areas and Native Title Policy and Schedule)

The Queensland Conservation Council recognises that Aboriginal and Islander people:

• Are traditional custodians of the land now called Queensland and Australia;

• Have been dispossessed and removed from their homelands by settlement and colonisation since European occupation under the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’; and

• Remain an economically and socially disadvantaged group in Australian society.

• The Queensland Conservation Council supports:

1. Aboriginal ownership and management of land in Queensland

2. Amendment of the Aboriginal Land Act for the provision of a Statutory Land Acquisition Find to allow the purchase of land for the purpose of Aboriginal and Islander people as inalienable freehold title

3. The right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to exercise responsibility for resource management and the control of extractive industries

4. Detailed and on-going discussion and negotiation between conservation organisations and Aboriginal groups on issues such as ecological protection, management plans, endangered species, economic development and living areas

5. Continued cooperation between Aboriginal and government and non-government conservation organisations for the identification, protection and management of natural areas including National Parks and World Heritage Areas

6. That conservation groups reserve the right to lobby against deleterious development proposals and unsustainable practices on Aboriginal lands.

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