Dear Minister
I am writing this Open Letter to you as Minister responsible for Crown Lands. Previous letters to you and your department, out of the public view, continue to fail to solicit clear answers regarding the management of the obvious conflicts between federally-determined Native Title Rights and state government legislation and related provisions such as the gazetted purposes of Crown Land Reserves affected by Native Title. One of those affected is the 360ha Dirawong Reserve at Evans Head.
In the case of The Dirawong, non-exclusive Native Title Rights were granted ten years ago this December to the Bandjalang People for various activities such as camping and hunting, some of them in clear conflict with the purposes of the Reserve for the protection of flora and fauna. What were we to do as managers if Native Title holders started to hunt and camp and light fires on the Reserve and use hunting dogs when these were clearly prohibited and individuals had been prosecuted in the past for doing so?
And how were we to deal with the problem of deciding who was legally entitled to undertake such activity? Were the managers of the Reserve to be the ‘King Solomons’ of who could and couldn’t undertake such activity? And how were the managers to deal with the inevitable backlash which would arise as a result of there being two sets of rules for those with and without Native Title Rights?
As a former Board Member of the Dirawong I sought advice, as did the Board, about how to deal with such conflicts in writing with a clear legal basis as to how decisions were to be made and the conflicts managed. But more than that we sought advice about how the public was to be protected, both the ‘non-exclusive’ users of the Reserve as well as Native Title holders, against unforeseen collateral damage that might occur during the exercise of Native Title Rights in activities such as hunting. We did not subscribe to the ‘laissez-faire’, ‘allow-them-to-do-as-they wish’ approach to the problem suggested to us by departmental representatives as this did not align with the ‘risk management’ so heavily drilled in to us as Reserve managers. But more than that it was not consistent with the ‘rule of law’ on which democracy is based. It seemed more like a ‘Wild West’ approach to management which would inevitably unravel with potential serious consequences for all parties involved: managers, Native Title Holders, and other users of the Reserve, and ultimately The Dirawong itself.
Minister, the responses from your department that a new Board of the Dirawong would be informed about how to deal with these issues once appointed is not good enough. The public needs to know how you and your department are going to deal with the problems raised here. The promise that some generic Indigenous Land Use Agreement [ILUA] across all properties given non-exclusive Native Title Rights in the December 2013 Determination will solve the problem, along with some form of risk management strategy, does not cut the mustard. Why the secrecy? Why has it taken ten years and there is still no ILUA? Why are there no written instructions to follow? Why no answers after a year and half of inquiry?
Minister, I recognise that there are some significant difficulties raised by the conflicting and competing issues described here but it is time to stop obfuscating and either provide the public with the information we have requested or admit that there are difficulties which cannot be easily resolved, or both, if there is only a partial solution. The public is not stupid and needs to informed. Perhaps the public might have something useful to say!
We recognise that the matters raised here also ‘interact’ with the forty-year-old NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act and the more than 30,000 outstanding claims under that Act. But dealing with all of this behind closed door out of the public view does nothing for public faith in government and in particular the partnerships here at Evans Head that already exist between Aboriginal People and the rest of the community.
The Dirawong Reserve was established with the concerted efforts of the whole local community including Aboriginal Elders nearly forty years ago. The Reserve came from the working together of the community to protect the Aboriginal Heritage of the site as well as protection of flora and fauna. That enormous effort paid dividends with much of the Reserve protected from rampant abuse consistent with the Tragedy of the Commons where there were no rules governing what happened. The Dirawong was being trashed and community action stopped that from happening. The Board was nominated for a management award just a few years ago in recognition of that collective effort.
Sadly, that considerable effort and the respect and trust engendered by working together is being irretrievably lost by the actions of what appears to be an insensitive bureaucracy which either doesn’t know what to do or is the subject of a political process, or both.
Minister, where are your answer to these questions? Ultimately the responsibility falls to you.
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. 
