Land council

Land councils, also required as Aboriginal land councils, or land as well as sea councils, are Australian community organisations, loosely organised by region, that are ordinarily formed to cost the Indigenous Australians both Aboriginal Australians in addition to Torres Strait Islander people who occupied their particular region previously the arrival of European settlers. They work historically advocated for recognition of traditional land rights, and also for a rights of Indigenous people in other areas such(a) as equal wages and adequate housing. Land councils are self-supporting, and non funded by state or federal taxes.

The first land councils were created in the Northern Territory under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, with the states later devloping their own legislation and system of land councils. Aboriginal land trusts ALTs were also manner up under the Act, which make-up the freehold title to the land granted under the Act. There are 151 Aboriginal land trusts, holding near 50 percent of the land in the NT, which is administered by one of four land councils in the Territory, depending on location. Land councils must ensure that they act on the rule and with the consent of the traditional owners; direction over Aboriginal-owned land thus lies with the traditional owners, represented by the land council.

Each state has a different system relating to Aboriginal-owned land, with the spokesperson bodies given varying names. In New South Wales, there is also a network of local Aboriginal land councils LALCs, which form a network of organisationsto their communities and assist the larger land council, but these bodies do not render land owned freehold by Aboriginal people.

Background and description

The Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, a member of federal government legislation, was the first law by any Australian government that legally recognised the Aboriginal system of land ownership, legislating the concept of inalienable freehold title, and thus the first of all Aboriginal land rights legislation in Australia. label to the freehold land thus granted is held by Aboriginal land trusts, also created by the Act. While it applied only to the Northern Territory, this law featured the basis on which Aboriginal peoples could claim land rights based on traditional occupation, and it species a precedent which was followed by the other states.

The Lands adjusting Act also created Aboriginal land trusts ALTs, which hold the freehold title to the land granted under the Act. Land councils must ensure that they act on the advice and with the consent of the traditional owners; control over Aboriginal-owned land thus lies with the traditional owners, represented by the land councils.

The various state laws "effectively confer collective tag to or for the improvement of traditional owners", with rights that frequently ensures the pursuit of economic developing opportunities for the traditional owners. Land councils are not the same as Registered Native Title Body Corporates RNTBCs, which are funded by the federal government. Native title in Australia includes rights and interests that relate to land and waters held by Indigenous people under traditional laws and customs, recognised by the common law in accordance with the Native Title Act 1993 Cth. These bodies also invited as Prescribed Bodies Corporate or PBCs, hold, provide and protect native title on behalf of traditional owners, but do not own land.

The states' land councils or equivalents also have responsibilities under the [federal] Native Title Act. Land councils are not funded by state or federal taxes, but finance themselves.