The Leeton Court House does not have its own carpark, and the nearest parking facility is to be transferred to the Aboriginal Land Council. Photo: Bidgee/Wikipedia.
A court ruling this month that will see a Leeton CBD carpark handed over to the Aboriginal Land Council has provoked a predictably racist response on social media.
Among the torrent of abuse was this comment: “What a load of bulldust, next your house will be handed over to them,” from someone who clearly didn’t know – or care – that privately owned property cannot be subject to Aboriginal land claims.
But instead of directing anger at First Nations residents, the finger of blame ought to be pointed at the NSW Government, whose apparent mismanagement of the site has fuelled division among Leeton residents and may lead to the loss of an important community asset.
The case centres on a gravel lot on the corner of Oak and Church streets, next to the Leeton Court House.
The NSW Government acquired the land for courthouse purposes in 1925 and it has long been used by courthouse staff, police, Corrective Services workers and members of the public as a carpark.
“Always was. Always will be a carpark,” was another cynical comment on Facebook – but it seems the NSW Government never properly established this fact.
The courthouse was built next door, but this parcel of land remained vacant and undeveloped for the next 100 years.
The NSW Land and Environment Court recently ruled the land must be transferred to the Leeton and District Local Aboriginal Land Council after finding the government’s rejection of a land claim was unlawful.
Importantly, the court found the land was still Crown land when the claim was lodged in 2020. It also found the government could not prove the site’s use as a carpark was legally authorised in the way required to defeat an Aboriginal land claim.
Nobody expects bureaucrats to work quickly. But if the NSW Crown Lands department can’t sort out the legal status of a strategically important CBD block in 100 years, questions need to be asked.
You would think that in the space of a century someone might have paved the gravel, formally dedicated the land for public use, or at the very least ensured the legal arrangements were in place to protect it from a claim.
Instead, the government has spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on lawyers who argued in court that the land shouldn’t be transferred, only to discover it couldn’t prove key parts of its own case. This is the sort of incompetence that has helped fuel the extraordinary rise of Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
One could be cynical about the motives of the Aboriginal Land Council in making this claim, but the reality is it didn’t create the rules. It simply used a process that has existed since the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was passed in 1983.
That’s why the outrage and racism directed at Aboriginal people is so misplaced.
The Leeton CBD carpark attracts as many as 30 vehicles on some days. Photo: NSW CaseLaw.
The Land Council is acting in its own interests, just as any organisation would.
A few years ago, many Riverina residents were furious when it emerged Australian taxpayers had helped bankroll a failed $70 million hazelnut venture near Leeton and Narrandera run by a foreign-owned company. But most people understood who was ultimately responsible. The company acted in its commercial interests. The real question was why government decision-makers handed over public money to them.
The same principle applies here.
If a land claim succeeds because a government failed to properly manage a piece of land for decades, the first question shouldn’t be, “How dare the Aboriginal Land Council make a claim?”
It should be: “Why was the government asleep at the wheel for so long?”
Whether the site remains a carpark is now a matter for negotiation. Leeton Council has already indicated it wants to work with the Aboriginal Land Council to find a solution that benefits the community.
Hopefully common sense prevails and the public retains access to a site that plays an important role in the town centre.
But if Leeton loses a valuable CBD carpark, residents should direct their frustration at the people who left the land sitting in legal limbo for decades – not the people who followed a process created by parliament and upheld by a court.
