The Wire

South Australia’s Antakarinya people are set to benefit from a landmark Indigenous Land Use Agreement, which has fast-tracked mining exploration without compromising the rights of traditional owners. For the first time, the state’s Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement has used a pre-designed agreement covering all exploration licences in the claim area, rather than forcing miners to negotiate individually for each licence. Meanwhile, Traditional Owners in Victoria, frustrated with the lack of movement over native title rights in the state is banding together to engage with the government. Graham Atkinson from Native Title Services Victoria says a new peak body, the Victorian Traditional Owners Land Justice Group, has been formed as a collective with the authority to talk with the state government on behalf of the state’s Aboriginal nations. A key goal will be for the new group to progress series of land and resource management principles that were submitted to the state government some years ago, with no formal response. Mr Atkinson says the Native Title Act is causing great frustration for Traditional Owners.