Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Council 3rd Year Celebrations

Thank you Uncle Bob Anderson for your kind welcome and can I reciprocate as I begin today by respecting the Quandamooka people, the traditional owners of Minjerribah. I thank them for allowing me on their country. I salute the Elders who are here today, those that have gone before us, and those who are yet to come.

My people are freshwater people, the Gangulu, from the Dawson Valley in Central Queensland.

My Elders send a message of gratitude to the Quandamooka people for letting one of theirs on your country and they tell me to pass onto to you their admiration for your continued ownership of your country and your continuing practice of your culture.

And then they tell me I must leave your country and culture in the same condition as it was when I arrived.
I also acknowledge the Honourable Nigel Scullion, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs. I have worked with the Minister over many years in various capacities and I can tell you he is a good man with a good heart.

I acknowledge Ms Karen Williams, Mayor of Redlands and Councillor Paul Bishop, Dr Valerie Cooms, the Chairperson of your Prescribed Body Corporate, the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation.

Finally, I remember one of your Elders and my friend, Emma Webb who passed last year.

Friends, today marks the three year anniversary of when the western system, through the Federal Court, recognised the Quandamooka system by acknowledging you as the owners of this land.

I clearly remember the struggle that pre-dated the High Court’s decision on Native Title, of how you then used that same Native Title system to suit your own agenda, of how you never gave up the struggle and how proud you were on that day when Justice Dowsett determined the Quandamooka people's Native Title Determination Application on 4 July 2011. 

Minister, I am sure you will be told about the Native Title determination further today but to give you an early heads up, Quandamooka people are not only restricted to North Stradbroke Island but Moreton Island, some southern Moreton Bay Islands and parts of the mainland where native title applications will be extended in the near future.

My history of Minjerribah is somewhat different though. I first came to Straddie in the early seventies, 1974 to be exact, when I had just begun work with Telecom, you know the predecessor of Telstra. I came here to paint that tower over in Point Lookout.

Being the only bloke not from Brisbane I stayed here on weekends and one Saturday afternoon sat in the beer garden of the Point Lookout Hotel taking a couple of hours to work up the courage to say g’day to a woman my Dad told me about, the great Oodgeroo, Kath Walker. I remember she was sitting with Ray Barrett and being just a boy from the bush, I thought this surely must be that place where the superstars gathered.

Kath and I continued to meet over the years. When she and her son Vivian worked on the Australian Pavilion at Expo in 1988 and then when she became an ATSIC Regional Councillor and I worked in the Brisbane Regional Office.

I was honoured then to be able to pay my last respects to Kath when she passed and her funeral took place at Moongalba.

Through all of these years, your fierce struggle for your land continued up until that day three years ago.

Except, the struggle wasn’t over.

Sometimes it seems getting to the determination is the easy bit, because there are so many duties that arise from being recognised as traditional owners and these duties seem to accrue in one place, the Prescribed Body Corporate.

The pressure from the community on the PBC is almost instantaneous to address the wrongs of the last 226 years and let me say this is an understandable reaction. Because like Quandamooka, for many people, a Native Title determination will be the first time there has been any real leverage to get a seat at the table, to represent the communities aspirations, to be treated as equals and to be valued as contributors to the whole community, not just seen as the fringe dwellers.

This pressure from our own mob can be immense and debilitating.

And then there are the pressures from the rest of the community on PBCs. I hear around Australia of non-Indigenous people worried about Native Title affecting their land values, claims of reverse racism and the stifling of development. I hear of meetings being called to backtrack on these determinations.

The one thing most people are not ready to accept is that PBCs can succeed, they are also not ready to accept that PBCs are, in the main run by people with immense experience in complex and complicated organisations, juggling so many balls at the one time, whereas most of us would just pack up and go home.

In my view the one thing most of these successful organisations have in common is effective governance structures.

Indigenous governance is about how we organise ourselves and make decisions about our lives in a culturally relevant way. The National Centre for First Nations Governance (NCFNG) in Canada describes governance for Indigenous peoples as:

...the traditions (norms, values, culture, and language) and institutions (formal structures, organisation, and practices) that a community uses to make decisions and accomplish its goals.^[1]

It also facilitates our participation in decisions about our lands, territories and resources. To do this we need to:

• make customary decision-making processes integral to our internal community governance (where this is possible)
• have complete access to all relevant information
• be given appropriate timeframes to understand the information and participate in decisions
• ensure governments and external stakeholders engage with our representative bodies for lands, territories and resources, including Prescribed Bodies Corporate (PBCs).

While discussions and research about contemporary Indigenous governance have been occurring for some time in Australia, I believe it is critical we recognise that governance has always been at the core of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and our community life.

The distinction between our traditional or customary governance and contemporary Indigenous governance means that we must now adjust our customary ways of governing to meet the expectations and regulations of non-indigenous institutions. June Oscar, in her keynote speech to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) National Native Title Conference in June 2012, explained the importance of acknowledging:

...the challenging and complex operating environment which we are all continuing to live in, seeking justice and trying to raise families, and holding onto the lived practices of our beliefs. We as Indigenous People live out our lives in two worlds according to our custom and tradition and the modern reality. Yet this acknowledgement has never ever been forthcoming. Because the western lens is applied to everything we encounter.^[2]

The inherent tension between the ‘two worlds’ in which we live and to which we are forced to adapt is also recognised as:

...relationships between and among Australian governments and Indigenous groups, and as contestation and negotiation over the appropriateness and application of policy, institutional and funding frameworks within Indigenous affairs.^[3]

Our community governance must therefore be able to determine how we want to develop and use our lands, territories and resources. This requires us to:

• be given the time and space to identify our priorities and long-term aspirations about how we want to develop and use our lands, territories and resources
• participate in decision-making and fair and cooperative consultation processes to provide or not to provide our consent to projects
• have complete information about the project in a culturally appropriate way and be given adequate timeframes to make decisions.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the reality that our PBCs face, in particular it is the reality that your PBC, Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, QYAC, faces as it comes to terms with the great responsibility it has assumed in managing the competing priorities and expectations of all of those peoples I mentioned earlier.

However, we have available to us in Australia one of the most important roadmaps to guide us through these questions that face us, and it is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.^[4]

The Declaration was adopted by the Australian Government in 2009 and is one of the most significant milestones in the protection of indigenous human rights. As the Declaration affirms in Article 1, it does not create new human rights but rather reflects existing rights as they apply to our peoples:

Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law.

The Declaration incorporates four fundamental human rights principles that can be categorised as:

• self-determination
• participation in decision-making and free, prior and informed consent
• respect for and protection of culture
• non-discrimination and equality.

These principles are inextricably linked and indivisible, and our Indigenous governance must be underpinned by all of these principles if we are to realise our human rights.

Self-determination is about us deciding our own economic, social, cultural and political futures. At its core, ‘self-determination is concerned with the fundamental right of people to shape their own lives.’^[5]

As with the principle of self-determination, our participation in decision-making, good faith and free, prior and informed consent reinforces each of our rights contained in the Declaration and establishes the rights of Indigenous peoples to participate in decision-making in matters that affect us, and to develop and maintain our own decision-making systems and institutions. (see Articles 18, 20 and 23).

Culture incorporates our ways of being, knowing and doing – it is the foundation of our individual and collective identity.

Culture within the context of our Indigenous governance is about enabling us, as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, to continue our customary and historical – as well as our contemporary – ways of organising ourselves and making decisions about matters that affect us.

The respect for and protection of our culture also underpins and informs the requirement for governments and others to increase their cultural competency and engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a culturally safe and culturally secure manner.

My predecessor, Professor Mick Dodson has said:

We cannot survive as distinct peoples, nor can we exercise our fundamental rights as peoples unless we are able to conserve, revive, develop and teach that wisdom. Without the connection with our cultural heart, the enjoyment of all other rights is a superficial shell.^[6]

Finally, the principles of non-discrimination and equality mean that we should be able to govern ourselves without discrimination from individuals, governments and/or external stakeholders.

These principles need to be enshrined in our Indigenous governance institutions, constitutions, laws, rules and in the legislation and policy frameworks of governments and external stakeholders that engage with our communities.

We need to develop innovative approaches that more effectively meet the needs of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities.

Again, the Declaration guides us. In the second paragraph of its preamble, the General Assembly of the United Nations affirmed:

.... that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, while recognizing the right of all peoples to be different, to consider themselves different, and to be respected as such,

First of all, this is a right that all people have. And while it might seem innocuous at first glance, it actually imposes obligations on nation states and their governments to design and implement systems, such as land management, health and education that cope with difference. This means it is not up to the individuals and communities who are different to navigate their way through these systems.

It should not be up to us to change who we are to fit into their system. The system should be designed to accommodate us and anyone else who considers themselves different.
However, effective governance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples starts with us – with our peoples and with our communities.

We must draw on our unique history of traditions, law, knowledge and wisdom to guide how we make decisions about our lives in a way that is relevant for us. But we also need to be given the space to decide how we organise ourselves and make decisions, and we need to acknowledge that this will differ between our communities.

This underpins our fundamental human right of self-determination.

If we want to achieve effective Indigenous governance that enables us to realise our aspirations, we must embrace the principles in the Declaration and acknowledge that our governance is an interrelationship between our peoples and communities, our organisations and governments.

Our Indigenous governance must consider:

• how we make decisions
• how we resolve disputes
• how we negotiate with governments and external stakeholders
• how we exercise our authority and rights
• how we design our governing institutions
• what we need to do to look after our peoples and our lands, territories and resources.^[7]

I am pleased to say that the Quandamooka Peoples have developed a clear and transparent decision-making process to enable them to deal with issues resulting from their native title determination. This structure incorporates one representative from each of the twelve families who are descendants of the twelve apical ancestors named in the native title claim group and now forms the board of governance of the PBC, Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation.^[8]

A Council of Elders also comprises twelve female and twelve male Elders who represent each of the family groups and apical ancestors.

Elders must be acknowledged as such by their peers before they are accepted on to the Council of Elders.^[9]

Any PBC issues that are disputed and cannot be resolved by the group of family representatives on the PBC are taken to the Council of Elders.

To me, the structures around the management of your Native Title is the embodiment of the principles I mention above. You have a corporate structure that meets the complex requirements of the legislation in that all PBCs:

• are established in accordance with the Native Title Act 1993 (Native Title Act)
• have set functions under the Native Title (Prescribed Bodies Corporate) Regulations 1999 (PBC Regulations)
• undertake corporate responsibilities that are set out in the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act).

As the organisation that holds and manages determined native title rights and interests, PBCs are also required to engage with and rely on a number of other organisations and external stakeholders.

This means that PBCs can be involved in a range of activities including:

• land and water conservation partnerships
• research partnerships
• recording and archiving cultural information
• cultural tourism
• education and employment
• heritage and conservation programs
• economic and business development.^[10]

Into this maze of legislative demands and responsibilities you have integrated your own system of governance with the Council of Elders and the makeup of the QYAC board underpinned by the representation of the twelve families.

You are well on the way of reconciling the complexities of these legislative requirements, the duty of care you all take on board as traditional owners, managing the aspirations of different parts of the Quandamooka community, dealing pressures from the non-Indigenous community whilst contributing to an economic future for the whole of North Stradbroke Island and for Quandamooka kids.

Can I be bold and offer some words of advice.

First to the Quandamooka people. It is only three years since your native title determination, a mere blip of time compared to the thousands of years you have occupied this land, and as I look around Australia you are doing fine.

There is a truism that says:

The longer it takes to build something, the longer it takes to bring it down.

So take time to establish that solid base from which you can rightfully take your place at the table when all things about your land and heritage are being discussed.

Trust your leadership. They are your people and as such have accountabilities to your community that go much further than the corporate accountabilities they have set out in all that legislation I mentioned earlier. Give your leadership the time and space they need.

Invest in your young people and look after your Elders.

To the non-Indigenous people, be they residents, Local, State or Federal Government representatives, business people, supporters or people who are just unsure of native title.

Trust the Quandamooka people. They have taken care of this place for those thousands of years and they are totally invested in maintaining the wellbeing of this country.

Engage with the Quandamooka people. They are people with whom you will find you will have common interests and aspirations.

Support Native Title.

First thing is it’s not going anywhere soon. It’s been around for over 22 years and is now embedded in the Australian political and cultural landscape forever.

Second are the words of John Christopherson, a leader from Kakadu. He said:

“Don’t worry about the possibility of losing your back yards in this process, that’s not going to happen in any case. Don’t think about losing what has been obtained over those 226 years since 1788, think about sharing a heritage and culture that’s over 25,000 years old.”

Embrace Quandamooka culture. If you live or work on Quandamooka culture it’s going to be part of your culture.

Friends, can I finish today by paying my respects to and honouring Oodgeroo. Her poem the Song of Hope gives us just that. Hope.

Look up my people, the dawn is breaking, the world is waking, to a bright new day
When none defame us, no restriction tame us, nor colour shame us, nor sneer dismay.

Now brood no more, on the years behind you
The hope assigned you, shall the past replace
When a juster justice, grown wise and stronger, points the bone no longer, at a darker race.

So long we waited, bound and frustrated, till hate be hated, and caste deposed
Now light shall guide us, no goal denied us
And all doors open, that long were closed.

See plain the promise, dark freedom-lover!
Night's nearly over, and though long the climb
New rights will greet us, new mateship meet us, and joy complete us, in our new Dream Time.

To our fathers' fathers, the pain, the sorrow;
To our children's children, the glad tomorrow.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen

^[1] National Centre for First Nations Governance, Governance Best Practices Report (2009), p vii. At http://www.newrelationshiptrust.ca/downloads/governance-report.pdf (viewed 16 March 2012).
^[2] J Oscar, ‘Recognising and encouraging honour and determination’ (keynote address presented at pre-workshop, AIATSIS Native Title Conference, Townsville, 4 June 2012). At http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/ntru/documents/JuneOscarSpeech_000.pdf (viewed 24 July 2012).
^[3] D Smith and J Hunt, ‘Understanding Indigenous Australian governance – research, theory and representations’ in Contested Governance: culture, power and institutions in Indigenous Australia, p 4. At http://epress.anu.edu.au/titles/centre-for-aboriginal-economic-policy-research-caepr/c29_citation/pdf-download (viewed 25 May 2012).
^[4] United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, GA Resolution 61/295, UN Doc: A/61/L.67 (2007).
^[5] C Fletcher (ed), Aboriginal Self-Determination in Australia, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra (1994), p xi.
^[6] M Dodson, Cultural Rights and Educational Responsibilities (The Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture, 5 September 1994). At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/about/media/speeches/social_justice/educational_responsibilities.html (viewed 9 August 2012).
^[7] S Cornell, Co-Director of the Harvard Project on American Economic Development, Email to L Gunn, Senior Policy Officer in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Team, Australian Human Rights Commission, 23 July 2012.
^[8] V Cooms, Personal Communication with Louise Bygrave, Senior Policy Officer Social Justice Team, 8 August 2011.
^[9] V Cooms, Personal Communication with Louise Bygrave, Senior Policy Officer, Social Justice Team, 8 August 2011.
^[10] Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (Native Title Research Unit), Native Title Bodies Corporate. At http://nativetitle.org.au/what_do_we_do.html (viewed 18 September 2012).