Western Australian drives to extinguish native title
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Western Australian Government plans to extinguish Native Title
Submitted by LivingPong
Premier Colin Barnett addressed Noongar elders about a proposed $1 billion deal to settle native title claims in West Australian's southwest. The government proposed a $1 billion deal for a final settlement in Perth that would end all future native title claims for the area with land transfers and cash injections.
Mr. Barnett said the deal would be a "courageous step" by the Noongar people, giving them self-determination and a future fund to benefit their people.
He said he believed most Noongar people would accept it but some disagreement was to be expected.
But Noongar elder Richard Wilkes said he thought the deal would be illegal and SWALSC was falsely representing Swan River people who didn't agree with it.
"This land up here belongs to the Swan River people and we speak for it.
"This is a whitewash with a billion dollars," he said.
Angry aboriginals protest the proposed deal which would benefit an estimated 35,000 Noongar descendants. The community responds to the recent change:
The_Wanderer_Kansas: "This is atrocious! Look not one of us is perfect, but hadn't we evolved as a whole far enough to see what these actions really are? I know our education system is a mess, but I remember learning better then this! I was always under the belief that the Aussie's had an education system at least vaguely akin to our own."
EmperorThan: "Pathetic but typical for the completion of any good western takeover."
Progresshiv: "And the beat goes on......Is there something in the genetic makeup of people with European origins that makes us greedy, aggressive, and pigheaded?"
LivingPong: "Addiction to money is sadly more important to some than people and the land they live upon. The Western Australian Government has granted mining exploration for much of the state, now they are preparing to remove anything that may hinder mining all areas. People and the environment are obstacles to profit."
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