Victoria’s Expanding Aboriginal Empire

Victorians are becoming angry, some very angry, about what’s happening in their state, be it wind and solar farms, new transmission lines, tyre-wrecking pot-holed roads, and ever-rising fees, costs and charges to cover the massive state debt. Now much of this disquiet is coalescing around a flash-point in central Victoria — the long-running proposal for a so-called Great Forest National Park (GFNP). Two protest rallies have already been held, one in Drouin, another in Mansfield. More are planned.

This new national park will take in all of the Victorian High Country, from Tallarook in the west all the way to Licola in the east, and from Jamieson in the north to Traralgon in the south. This huge area, once home to a now defunct timber industry, is Melbourne’s closest and most popular mountainous recreational destination. Any weekend will find this vast state forest area — roughly the area in yellow below — providing for the activities of four-wheel-drivers, trail bike riders, prospectors, horse riders, hunters, fishers, historians, explorers, and many others, although it must be said, there’s nary ever a ‘greenie’ to be seen.

The government has for years been working on this proposed park. Having now disposed of the timber industry and firmed up much of its Aboriginal land rights legislation, the government is set to move on this latest massive grab of public land. If the proposed GFNP goes ahead, as expected, then most of the above-listed recreational activities will  be heavily restricted or banned altogether.

If the proposed GFNP goes ahead, as expected, then most of the above-listed recreational activities will  be heavily restricted or banned altogether.

To achieve its aims the government has established several allegedly objective and impartial ‘investigative panels’ to consider the issues involved, but these panels are anything but impartial. They include the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) which claims to be an independent organisation conducting objective ‘scientific’ assessments, but this of course is not true. VEAC is merely a government agency that has for decades been responsible for biased and inaccurate ‘assessments’ to provide ‘evidence’ to confirm the government’s intentions and policies. VEAC should have been disbanded years ago.

Then comes the recently established so-called ‘Eminent Panel for Community Engagement’ (EPfCE) made up of five bureaucrats, three of whom are there to represent ‘Aboriginal interests’. Whoever named this panel as ‘eminent’ has no idea what the word means. Nevertheless, the panel will consider:

♦ the future use of State forests in eastern Victoria, including Immediate Protection Areas in [the] Central Highlands

♦ land classification of state forest;

♦ permissible uses in those areas;

♦ findings of scientific assessments of the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council;

♦ opportunities for the management of public land by Traditional Owners and [for] managing cultural values;

♦ environmental protections, including protecting habitat and for biodiversity;

♦the potential for [Aboriginal] cultural overlays.

The panel’s final report is due by July 31, and the above list heralds numerous red flags about which citizens should be gravely concerned. What must be noted in all of the Victorian Government’s propaganda about the Eminent Panel and its concern for ‘cultural values’ is that it’s all based on lies. This process has nothing to do with the environment, Aboriginal ‘culture’ or land conservation; it’s actually about the transfer of ownership and control of public (Crown) land, and eventually, all freehold land, (more on that to come another time.)

Then there’s the recently created ‘Great Outdoors Taskforce’ (GOT), allocated $11 million for its activities which include:

♦ consideration of opportunities to protect the environment and support recreational, social and commercial opportunities;

♦ opportunities for Traditional Owner management;

♦ identifying areas of state forest where some decisions can be made now, and;

♦ advising on where more partnership and engagement work needs to be done.

The GOT will be working in partnership with VEAC and the EPfCE. One must wonder at the duplication between these three entities and the enormous cost of them to the taxpayer, all in an effort to justify what is clearly a pre-determined Government policy and plan.

It’s clear that the Victorian government is in the process of re-writing the Public Lands Act, the Forests Act and amending the National Parks Act, amongst other Acts with the intention all Crown land, national and state parks will disappear into a new type of freehold called ‘Aboriginal Title’ in the hands of essentially private ‘Aboriginal’ corporations. This is not a requirement of the Federal Native Title Act, solely a decision of the Victoria’s Labor government.

This is not a requirement of the Federal Native Title Act, solely a decision of the Victoria’s Labor government.

But it gets worse. This is the forerunner to a much more insidious and greater agenda. To understand this, we must consider the current ‘presumptive use’ of Crown land. Currently, state forests in Victoria are open to all. Citizens are free to visit a state forest and do whatever they please just so long as they observe the law — no riding trail bikes, for instance, without a licence. The Victorian government seeks to eliminate this long-standing right and intends to move from ‘presumptive use’ to ‘permissive use’. Crown land will disappear and, in the main, be handed over to ‘Aboriginal’ corporations in ‘Aboriginal (freehold) Title’. This has been happening in Victoria for some years, although most people are unaware of it. For example, the Taungurung Land and Waters Council (TLaWC) has already been given ‘Aboriginal (freehold) Title’ over the Lake Eildon National Park and the Cathedral Range State Park, amongst many others.

As ‘Aboriginal (freehold) Title’ land, presumptive use is eliminated. Australian citizens will now need the ‘permission’ of the new landowners (Aboriginal corporations) to access these lands. In addition, the new ‘owners’ will be able to charge fees for access and dictate any terms and conditions they like for anyone to access ‘their’ land. This includes restricting access to certain areas and prohibiting certain activities on ‘their’ land, even including photography. The freedoms we now all enjoy and share on Crown land will be gone! By way of example, currently anyone can go into a state forest and have a picnic. Under ‘Aboriginal (freehold) Title’ that will no longer be possible without permission.

Despite the 60-40 ‘No’ vote in the 2023 Referendum, the federal, state and territory governments are pushing ahead with their irrational and deceitful ‘Aboriginalisation’ of Australia. One element of many is that in 2009 then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed Australia up to the ‘United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’¹ (UNDRIP – co-authored by Labor’s Senator Pat Dodson!) This irrational document, which if implemented in full would divide and bankrupt any State, is instructive as to the madness now gripping Australia today.

This irrational document, which if implemented in full would divide and bankrupt any State, is instructive as to the madness now gripping Australia today.

It is Article 26 that demonstrates the key to what is now happening Australia-wide:

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired.

2. Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired.

3. States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned.

Victorian Aboriginal organisations are also making inroads into the powers and responsibilities of local shire councils. It is becoming abundantly clear that such bodies are already (with the encouragement and legal imprimatur of the Victorian Government) dictating terms to councils.

Many Victorians are fed up with what has now become a Labor dictatorship; Labor must be thrown out in 2026. But will the ‘Opposition’ be any better once in Government? Will weak-reed Liberal leader John Pesutto commit to winding back this re-invention of Victoria if his party wins office? Current signs suggest it wouldn’t be wise to hold one’s breath

1. UNDRIP Document: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf