From presumptive to permissive land use.
At last some Victorians are becoming very angry, and it’s about time. There’s growing unrest about what’s happening in Victoria, be it wind and solar farms, new transmission lines, ubiquitous pot-holed roads, and ever-rising fees, costs and charges to cover massive state debt. Now much of this disquiet is coalescing around a flash-point in eastern Victoria, being 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 the now defunct timber industry, is Melbourne’s closest and most popular mountainous recreational destination. Any weekend will find this vast State Forest area 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 new 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 either 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. Indeed, the use of the word is offensive to people who actually are ‘eminent’ in this field.
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; the above list heralds numerous red flags of 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, in its obsession with all things ‘Aboriginal’, wants to transfer ownership and management of all public (Crown) land and all National and State Parks to people who identify as ‘Aborigines’ (who are in fact no different to any of the rest of us) and their now massively wealthy publicly-funded elitist and race-based private Aboriginal corporations. 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 as well. It’s clear the Government intends that all public (Crown) land, National and State Parks will disappear and become land held under ‘Aboriginal Title’ in the hands of essentially private ‘Aboriginal’ corporations.
But it gets much worse. This is the forerunner to a much more insidious and greater agenda. To understand this, we must consider the current ‘presumptive use’ of public (Crown) land. Currently, State Forests in Victoria are open to all people. Citizens are free to visit a State Forest and do whatever they please, as long as they do not indulge in activities that have been prohibited. There is great freedom for us all in this historic and traditional use of public (Crown) land. However, the Victorian Government seeks to eliminate this long-standing right.
By changing a number of Acts of Parliament (as currently underway) and introducing new ‘rights’ for Aboriginal organisations (currently also being justified and enabled through the Yoorrook Justice Commission) the Victorian Government intends to move from ‘presumptive use’ to ‘permissive use’. In effect, that means that public (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 completely 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, including photography. The freedoms we now all enjoy and share on public (Crown) land will be gone! However, as the landowners, they will be free to do whatever they like on ‘their’ land.
By way of example, currently anyone can go into a State Forest (public Crown land) and have a picnic. Under ‘Aboriginal (freehold) Title’ that will no longer be possible. To go and have a picnic on what will become ‘Aboriginal land’ you will need to get their 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.
It is Article 26 that demonstrates the key to what is now happening Australia-wide:
Article 26:
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.
This is precisely what the Victorian Government is putting into place at the moment, and with it, the presumptive right to free access of public (Crown) land will cease to exist! This transfer of public land is being done by bureaucrats right under our noses and is bypassing any semblance of democratic process. Constitutionally, can this even happen? No-one even seems to be asking that question.
In Victoria, ‘Aboriginal’ organisations are also making increasing inroads into the powers and responsibilities of local Shire Councils. It is becoming abundantly clear that such ‘Aboriginal’ organisations are already (with the encouragement and legal imprimatur of the Victorian Government) dictating terms to local Councils, and before too long our local (rural) Councils will be taken over and run by a new elite group of people who ‘identify as Aborigines’.
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 John Pesutto and Peter Walsh commit to undoing and winding back this re-invention of Victoria if they win office? Current signs indicate they will not.
Even though the Great Forest National Park is the touchstone of today, it is merely the tip of the iceberg and a forerunner of what is to come. Victorians, and all Australians, need to sit up and take notice as the Victorian Government not only changes the nature of public (Crown) land, indeed, eliminates it, but moves towards changing what private freehold land means for you as an individual as well. And all the while, ownership, control and management of our land is being handed over to a small race-based elite of people who identify as being ‘Aboriginal’! This cannot and must not be allowed to happen.
1. UNDRIP Document:
