Consultation on the NSWALC Community Fund

23 August, 2019

23 August 2019

Consultation on the NSWALC Community Fund

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) is pleased to announce the commencement of consultation with the Land Rights Network as approved by Council. This consultation seeks comments from Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) on a set of proposed amendments to the NSWALC Community Fund (NCF) Policy as well as advising LALCs of approved changes to the NCF Procedures, which aim to improve the overall impact of the NCF.

The NSWALC Community Fund

The 2009 amendment of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) (ALRA) established the NCF and the Community Development Levy (CDL) that funds it. The NCF was devised to redistribute wealth from Land Councils with more valuable land holdings to those with less valuable land and development opportunities.

There have been four NCF funding rounds since 2015, with combined funding committed of $3,008,000 in support of 71 LALCs.

Independent Review

Council determined that there was sufficient funding experience and data available to conduct an independent review of the NCF Policy and Procedures.

Social Ventures Australia (SVA) were engaged to conduct this work.

Proposed Amendments

Based on SVA's findings, a number of proposed amendments will be put forward for Network feedback including, but not limited to:

  • expanding the scope of the NCF to any project with clear community development outcomes
  • expanding the activities funded by grants to include the engagement of consultants, feasibility studies and planning, with applications for these expenses to be considered by NSWALC on merit.

Next Steps

NSWALC Program Implementation has prepared consultation materials for the Network and are in the process of emailing each LALC directly.

Closing Date

The Closing Date for Network feedback is close of business on Friday 4 October.

If you have any questions, please contact the NSWALC Program Implementation Unit on 02 9689 4444 or email grants@alc.org.au.

Acknowledgement

We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of the lands where we work as well as across the lands we travel through. We also acknowledge our Elders past, present and emerging.

Artwork Credit: Craig Cromelin, from a painting he did titled, "4 favourite fishing holes". It is a snippet of his growing years on the Lachlan River, featuring yabby, turtle, fish and family.

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