Tiwi Islands: Delays to multi-million-dollar port, forestry project turn up heat on land council
A series of delayed development projects promising income and jobs for Tiwi people has led to calls for the Tiwi Land Council (TLC) regional authority to be replaced.
A $50 million port development, said to be worth up to $200 million in export revenue, has fallen months behind schedule.
A major forestry plantation project, developed in partnership with the council by company Sylvatech and then Great Southern, has also struggled to get off the ground.
The setbacks have raised concerns about TLC governance problems. Meanwhile, high rates of unemployment on the Tiwi Islands remain a source of community frustration and anger.
Former Northern Territory deputy chief minister Marion Scrymgour has called on the Commonwealth and Territory governments to deliver a new regional authority.
"I think there's been a whole lot of investments that have been wrong," she said.
"If this was a business or an organisation in mainstream Australia there'd be an outcry because it's taxpayer money. And yet because it's a remote Aboriginal community it doesn't hit the Richter scale.
"I've had concerns for a long time. I think I've done about two to three submissions to the Senate and tried to get through successive federal governments an independent external inquiry.
"Those two big projects have failed. People often forget that there were 52 business on the Tiwi Islands that have failed and gone bankrupt or people have walked away.
"The devastation left on the community has been huge.
"Tiwis are reluctant to get involved becasue to get involved means to be positive, to give everything only to be disappointed again. I think people are just sick of being disappointed."
We are being kept in the dark: Councillor
Although the island has a long history of forestry, the industry's modern era began in 2001 when the Australian Plantation Group, later named Sylvatech, received approval to establish and operate up to 26,000 hectares of forestry operations on Melville Island.
Great Southern acquired Sylvatech in 2004. The plan was to harvest about 3,000 hectares of timber a year from 2013/14.
In 2008 the company was ordered to pay $1.35 million to the Tiwi Land Council after it encroached on buffer zones protecting rainforests and wetlands.
Great Southern went bust in early 2009 and was later placed in receivership amid claims it was built on Ponzi schemes.
The financial cost to shareholders was hundreds of million of dollars.
The $50 million port development promising 300 jobs for Tiwi people was unveiled to much fanfare at Melville Island last year.
In February this year a Japanese company signed a memorandum of understanding to export and sell woodchips from the Tiwi Islands.
At the time, the Tiwi Land Council predicted the port would be ready for its first shipment in early 2014.
It was hoped new forestry jobs would break the cycle of welfare reliance. Months later, Tiwi islanders were still waiting.
Tiwi elder Pirrawayingi, a member of the Tiwi Land Council for 27 years, believed the council's delegates were not being told the full story about its operations.
"That makes it very, very difficult for an organisation to operate," he said. "I don't think the executives know what is really happening to the port, to the plantation. The port is at a standstill."
He called for the Tiwi Land Council to be restructured.
"The Tiwi Land Council itself cannot elect who they want on the executive board. It has to go to Tiwi Island people in the community," Pirrawayingi said.
"The other thing that has to change is we've got to have women on the Land Council."
The NT member for Arafura, which covers the Tiwi Islands, Francis Xavier, said people had grown frustrated and angry with inaction.
"People expect to see real jobs," he said. "We want to see action done immediately.
"There needs to be elections for the Tiwi Land Council. We need more females in Tiwi Land Council."
Forestry held hopes of a better life for Tiwi people
Don Fuller, an adviser to the NT's three Palmer United Party MLAs, said the stalled projects had wasted the goodwill of Tiwi islanders who had agreed to allow forestry on their land.
"We've got very large tracks of land, a lot of forestry products, but no port that's functioning to get the product out to market," Mr Fuller said.
"And that seems to demonstrate that we've had a major project very badly planned.
"I think a number of Tiwi regard their sacrifice with regard to their land on Melville Island to be very substantial.
"They have given huge tracts of land over to forestry development. It's in a sense changed the ecosystem of Melville Island.
"I'm sure the Tiwi think that that was a very significant sacrifice that they were prepared to undertake for their children for a better life.
"The fact nothing has really happened over such a long period of time is very disturbing, leading to further disenchantment with the political system and wider Australia."
Ms Scrymgour said the TLC had squandered an opportunity.
"The Tiwis aren't a big population," she said. "If anything given the money that has been spent the Tiwis should be way ahead of any other group," she said.
"They're one language, one people. They've always been isolated from the mainland. They've never had to go through and fight for land rights so they've always had control of their land.
"Therefore they should be in a better position than most mainland communities and they're not."
In a statement to ABC 7.30 NT, Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said:
"The Tiwi Land Council is an independent statutory body that has responsibilities under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 to consult with and obtain the consent of traditional Aboriginal owners when considering development proposals on Aboriginal land.
"As Commonwealth entities, I expect all land councils in the Northern Territory will work for their constituents and represent their interests."
The Tiwi Land Council was approached for comment a number of times, but did not respond before deadline.
