WA introduces bill recognising Noongar people as traditional land owners
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Version 0 of 1. A bill recognising the Noongar people as the traditional owners of Western Australia’s southwest, including Perth, has been introduced to state parliament. Related: West Australian Noongar community agrees to $1.3bn native title deal The state’s premier, Colin Barnett, said the recognition bill would not create new rights or change any laws, but was another step towards reconciliation. The bill is part of the native title settlement signed in June, which extinguishes all native title claims over a 200,000 sq km area in exchange for $1.3bn in land and other benefits. Barnett said it was Australia’s largest native title settlement to date. Noongar elder Elizabeth Hayden said generations of Aboriginal people had worked hard to achieve recognition. “My heart is weeping with joy,” she told reporters on Wednesday. “We live with hope because we’ve been knocked from pillar to post for generations. We’ve always lived in hope that we would get to a point of being acknowledged as the first people of this nation.” Hayden said it was impossible to fix the past. “The past is past, but we need to move forward to a better future,” she said. South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council deputy chairman Michael Hayden said he hoped to see young people get involved in the native title process. Related: Rangers break up Perth's Noongar tent embassy on Heirisson Island again “Look at the hardship that our elders have felt, understand their stories and struggles, fill your hearts with pride and strength in the culture, the survival, and embrace the community feeling amongst the Noongar people,” he said. “We have survived so much that has been thrown at us and today we finally get the opportunity through the recognition bill of knowing our place.” |