Byron Council does not have effective engagement with any of the Aboriginal groups in the Shire, last week’s Council meeting heard.
The comments came from Labor councillor Asren Pugh during a protracted debate about the most effective way to increase the amount of housing owned and occupied by local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Shire.
Cr Pugh moved a motion at the meeting proposing that Council undertake a suite of measures to ensure that local Aboriginal people own housing on country.
He noted Council’s existing policy of engaging closely with a range of local Aboriginal stakeholders to develop an effective strategy to provide more housing for these groups.
However, he said that this approach had been inhibited by the inability of Council to effectively engage with the different groups.
‘I’ve found it really hard as a councillor engaging with our local indigenous representatives,’ Cr Pugh said.
He said he was a member of the Council committee, which was set up to engage with local Arakwal representatives, but that it had only had one meeting during the current Council term.
‘We don’t have effective engagement or consultation with any of the Aboriginal groups in the Shire,’ Cr Pugh said.
‘I don’t think we’re going to be effective at setting up effective engagement structures until we start to recognise the concerns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.’
Cr Pugh said that the message he had received in direct discussions with local indigenous representatives was ‘just get on with stuff’.
‘It’s time for us to deliver,’ he said.
However, over the course of more than two hours of debate Cr Pugh’s motion was amended to the point where it closely resembled the status quo.
Rather than adopting specific measures to create more housing to be owned and occupied by local Aboriginal people, the final version of the motion involves engaging with Aboriginal stakeholders to achieve this aim.
The Council will also make strong representations to the NSW Reconstruction Authority that the land they have identified within the Byron Shure under the Resilient Lands Program includes Aboriginal-owned housing for Aboriginal people.
A majority of councillors voted in favour of the motion, including Cr Pugh, Sama Balson (Independent) Deputy Mayor Sarah Ndiaye (Greens), Duncan Dey (Greens), and Peter Westheimer (Independent).
Those who voted against were: Mayor Michael Lyon (Independent) and Alan Hunter (Independent).
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
