A draft Central Coast First Nations Accord and draft Acknowledgement of Country will be placed on public exhibition for community review and feedback.
The draft Accord is an agreement between First Nations Leaders and Central Coast Council that “aims to set an agenda that will guide how best to work together and further reconciliation.”
According to Council, the draft Accord works in alignment with Government frameworks such as Local Decision Making and delivers against the Priority Reform areas within the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
The key themes of the draft Accord are about strengthening engagement and working in genuine partnership with the Aboriginal community-controlled sector and strengthening culture and the way that Central Coast Council does business with First Australians.
“An important commitment of the draft Accord is the establishment of a broad based Aboriginal Advisory Committee to help guide the implementation of our commitments in a collaborative manner, ensuring the views and aspirations of our local First Nations community can be adequately considered,” Council said.
Through the development of this draft Accord, Council officers engaged with Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council and local First Nations leaders, Council said.
Administrator Rik Hart spoke to traditional custodians of Central Coast land outside the Council chambers in Wyong on April 26, prior to the adoption of the Draft Accord, and urged residents who had gathered for a smoking ceremony to get involved in giving Council feedback.
He acknowledged there were tensions between different groups and said Council hoped to facilitate progress.
Three people spoke at the public forum, held before the council-under-administration meeting.
Tracey Howie and Shad Tyler spoke against the accord, while Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council (DLALC) CEO Brendan Moyle spoke in favour.
Howie said GuriNgai people strongly objected to the wording recommended for the First Nations Accord of the Central Coast council.
“We have not been consulted on this matter…” Howie said.
“As the direct bloodline descendants of Bungaree and Matora, we are the only First Nations People of the Central Coast region to successfully satisfy the stringent Native Title Registration Test and have repeatedly proven our bloodline to be authentic and true, of the Central Coast region.
“It has been proven repeatedly that we are culturally and linguistically different from the Darginoong, not to be mistaken with the term ‘Darkinjung’ used for the purposes of registering an Aboriginal Land Council under the NSW 1983 Aboriginal Lands Right Act,” she said.
“No one actually is Darkinjung – there are no Darkinjung People and, therefore, no Darkinjung community.
“There is however the descendants of the First Nations Peoples, the GuriNgai, that live, work, honour, celebrate, commemorate and protect this Country, just like our ancestors did.
“We continue an unbroken intergenerational connection to this Country.”
DLALC CEO Brendan Moyle said the organisation took its direction from the board and it took direction from its membership.
“The board had passed motions over the last decade or so that they will not be the cause of a new wave of dispossession,” he said.
“DLALC will recognise whichever traditional owners, as defined under the Native Title Act, can actually prove through legal process that that is the case.”
He noted that a past application from a previous speaker had been unopposed but it had been discontinued and government no longer supported that process as far as he was aware.
He said he was happy to have conversations about who were traditional owners.
“DLALC supported Council’s work to build stronger relationships with the whole aboriginal community, not just one faction but the whole community,” he said.
Rik Hart said the draft Accord and wording of the draft Acknowledgement of Country are important for the wider community to consider.
“I encourage residents to view the draft Accord and draft Acknowledgement of Country and submit comments during the public exhibition period in May.
“Council will then consider all feedback to finalise this important agreement and statement which will outline our shared vision for the future of our whole community,” he said.
The draft Central Coast First Nation Accord and draft Acknowledgement of Country will be placed on public exhibition online at yourvoiceourcoast.com for community review and comment, between 2 – 30 May 2022.
Source: Central Coast Council meeting, Apr 26, 2022