18 December, 2024
Dear Land Rights network,
On behalf of the NSWALC Council, thank you all for your ongoing commitment to driving Aboriginal land rights in NSW.
Over the past year, we have made significant gains for our network and our people.
We continue to lodge, negotiate and litigate Aboriginal land claims, alongside LALCs. The return of land is the lifeblood of Land Rights, and we have had a number of notable successes this year alone. Leading the way was the resolution and return of lands under the sizeable Byron Bay Sandhills claim, and the historically and culturally important Brewarrina Common claim, which dated back to 1984. Both settlements will bring substantial benefits to their respective communities and underscore the importance of the land rights system in NSW. In recent weeks we were also successful in the NSW Court of Appeal in relation to a land claim at Jannali. This win and numerous others this year, continue our 85% success rate on appeals.
We have also had wins in supporting LALCs to activate lands for community outcomes. We obtained a DA for a 34-lot subdivision for a regional LALC. We were successful in securing funding to build 30 new dwellings across 11 LALC communities under the AHO Social Housing Accelerator Fund.
This year also saw the completion of training for our newly elected LALC Boards and the launch of the Corroborate Portal, which revolutionised the way NSWALC and LALCs collaborate.
The Yarpa Hub continues to set the standard in the First Nations business sector, with its ‘Meet the Buyer’ event now the showpiece First Nations business event in the state. Meanwhile, NSWALC Programs allocated over $7 million in grants to community members and organisations in the 2023-24 financial year through sponsorship and economic development support. The impact of these initiatives, along with NSWALC’s overall work, is highlighted in our first-ever Social Impact Report, published in November.
In advocacy, NSWALC remains a powerful voice for the network and our communities in our own right, through the Coalition of Aboriginal Peaks and through the Closing the Gap. This year saw the launch of our inaugural Social Impact Report, which demonstrated the far-reaching impact NSWALC has across Community. We have continued the success of the Community Connectors in keeping students engaged with schooling in six communities. We were also successful in securing NIAA funding for a Junior Rangers Program across seven regional and outer-regional communities. Through Closing the Gap we supported the establishment of Placed Based Partnerships in Tamworth, Orange and the Far Western Region and have delivered reform models for Government Accountability and for Government funding of Community Partnerships.
Towards the end of the year, the Council commenced the journey towards the development of the new 2026-2030 NSWALC Strategic Plan. We were fortunate to spend a couple of days at Worimi LALC’s inspiring Murrook Culture Centre, reflecting on 40 years of land rights to date and applying an aspirational lens to envision what the network might look like in another 40 years. The new Strategic Plan will be the essential stepping stone in our journey over the next 40 years.
As part of this journey, we are bringing the network together for a Statewide Conference in late 2025. This will be the first time we have hosted this event since 2018, and we aim to use the opportunity to hear from voices across the state about the future of the land rights network. This will be a wonderful chance to connect and network with everyone from across the state.
As we count down the last official days of work for 2024, we hope that you can check off those end-of-year tasks and truly begin to wind down. On behalf of the Council, take care and have a Merry Christmas.
Chairperson Raymond Kelly