<\/p>\n
Now the NSW Government is seeking to urgently close a legal loophole in order to make it harder for land councils to take control of community facilities.<\/p>\n
Premier Chris Minns told News24<\/a> on Monday the current legislation had moved away from its intended purpose.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe this was the original intent of the Frank Walker land rights legislation in the 1980s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf these plots of land are handed over, we can\u2019t ever get them back. We can\u2019t replicate our surf life saving clubs or our tennis infrastructure or our bowling clubs. I was hopeful of a landing. I suspect we are not going to get there. We still have to pursue the legislation \u2026 I don\u2019t see an alternative, I genuinely don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Established sporting clubs, including a popular tennis centre on the lower north shore, are facing eviction, while other venues have fallen to ruin after being handed back to traditional owners in recent years.<\/p>\n Under NSW legislation, Aboriginal land councils can lodge claims for the return of crown land that can be lawfully sold or leased, not be lawfully used or occupied, not needed for essential public purpose and not subject to native title claims.<\/p>\n Do you know more? Contact the author at frank.chung@news.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n Claims are assessed by the Aboriginal Land Claim Assessment Team, which later makes a recommendation to the minister on whether land is claimable.<\/p>\n The Minns Government has made efforts to water down some of the laws, with The Australian reporting in June that Lands Minister Steve Kamper was concerned at \u201ctechnicalities\u201d like an incorrectly written lease deciding claims.<\/p>\n The government is proposing amendments to the Crown Land Management Act to ensure that established community and sport facilities on crown land can continue to be used for their intended purpose.<\/p>\n \u201cThe local Aboriginal land councils have figured out it only takes one glitch for these sites to become fair game,\u201d 2GB host Ben Fordham said on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the piece of crown land was at any time unused or unlawfully used, their chances of success skyrocket. <\/p>\n \u201cBut we\u2019re talking about tiny technical breaches \u2014 for example if there were delays in the execution of documents, that could mean that technically the land was unused. If the tenant sublet any of the land, even a kiosk in a surf club, that amounts to unlawful use.\u201d<\/p>\n Fordham first revealed on Friday<\/a> that La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council (La Perouse LALC) was awaiting an outcome on a claim over Bondi Icebergs made in 2020 \u2014 unbeknown to the operators of the popular swimming pool at the southern end of the world-famous beach.<\/p>\n According to Fordham, \u201cevery surf club on Sydney\u2019s eastern beaches\u201d is facing a land claim including North Bondi, Clovelly, Coogee, Tamarama, Bronte and Maroubra.<\/p>\n On Monday, the talkback host revealed three more locations also facing claims, including St Michael\u2019s Golf Club in Little Bay, a top 50 Australian golf course and popular wedding venue with stunning clifftop views over the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n \u201cSt Michael\u2019s has been a social hub for tens of thousands of players and three former juniors from the club in Little Bay have gone onto play on the world stage,\u201d Fordham said.<\/p>\n St Michael\u2019s Golf Club has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n Also facing a claim is Sydney pub baron Justin Hemmes\u2019 trendy new venue Club Rose Bay, which reopened in January as a Merivale-backed retro cocktail bar.<\/p>\n Hemmes told Fordham via text message he was unaware of the claim. Hemmes declined to comment when reached by news.com.au on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cForbes has called this place one of the hottest spots in town, but now its operator finds out via text message from 2GB he\u2019s caught up in an Aboriginal land claim,\u201d Fordham said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Matraville RSL, affectionately known as Club Matto, is also facing a land claim, according to 2GB.<\/p>\n \u201cThe RSL has been a special place for veterans and the wider local community for more than 60 years,\u201d Fordham said. \u201cOn Anzac Day it\u2019s a full house. They host the Dawn Service and games of two-up.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tathra Beach Country Club and the nearby Tathra Beach Bowling Club, on the NSW south coast about six hours south of Sydney, were added to the list by Fordham on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an absurd situation and the uncertainty it\u2019s creating is profound,\u201d NSW opposition leader Kellie Sloane<\/a> told Fordham on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s destabilising for small community clubs, it\u2019s putting every other club on watch that if they try to sell a few coffees out of a coffee cart they could be in a technical breach of their lease and subject to land claims. Forty-four thousand land claims in NSW is not the intent of the original legislation. <\/p>\n \u201cThe original legislation, which has been around for a long time, was designed to free up land that wasn\u2019t being used or had special spiritual significance to Aboriginal land councils as a form of payment back for their land loss. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat is happening now is not fair and reasonable and it\u2019s unfortunately creating uncertainty, it\u2019s creating division.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile in Naremburn on the lower north shore, the long-running operators of the eight-court Talus Street Tennis Centre will be forced to hand over the keys by September 30 after being issued an eviction notice by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLALC).<\/p>\n Love\u2019n Deuce, which manages the courts for the Northern Suburbs Tennis Association (NSTA), took out the lease in 1978. The MLALC won its claim over the site in 2022 and inherited existing lease arrangements after a court ruled an \u201cinvalid sublease\u201d made the site technically claimable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a misunderstanding,\u201d Love\u2019n Deuce managing director Paul Francis told News24 on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was portrayed that this tennis centre wasn\u2019t opened to the public, that you had to become a member. That it was a private situation, which, if I can use the word, is absolute crap.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2022, harbourfront Waverton Bowling Club was handed back<\/a> to the MLALC following a landmark Land and Environment Court ruling, marking the first such successful claim in the North Sydney LGA.<\/p>\n The former bowling club, which had closed in 2019 due to dwindling membership, has since sat unused<\/a> as the building slowly deteriorates.<\/p>\n Paddington Bowling Club was also handed back<\/a> to the La Perouse LALC in January after the High Court ruled the land was not being lawfully used at the time of the original claim.<\/p>\n And in June it was revealed that a claim had been lodged over the site of North Sydney\u2019s historic courthouse first constructed in 1989.<\/p>\n Parliamentary secretary to NSW Attorney-General Hugh McDermott confirmed the claim in a note, reported by North Sydney Sun.<\/p>\n \u201cThe merits of this claim must be determined before alternative uses of the site can be considered,\u201d Mr McDermott said. \u201cThe time frame for resolution of this claim is currently unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n One listener told 2GB that in Sydney\u2019s southwest, the historic police station on John Street, built in 1878, was \u201csitting empty and slowly decaying\u201d after being handed to the local Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council 10 years ago.<\/p>\n Under the legislative changes being pursued by the NSW Government, a lease alone would make the land \u201clawfully used\u201d, blocking off potential claims.<\/p>\n Debate on the contentious reforms is set to resume next week.<\/p>\n NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) \u2014 the state\u2019s peak body which provides assistance to local land councils in making claims \u2014 has opposed the changes and accused the Minns Government of stirring up negative media attention.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NSW Government\u2019s assurance that land already granted to LALCs will not be affected fails to protect the significant number of claims awaiting their determination,\u201d NSWALC said.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, the NSW Government is creating harmful media coverage about Aboriginal land claims, driving division and deficit discourse rather than addressing their failure in determining claims. NSWALC has written to the Minister outlining these concerns and calling for the bill to be withdrawn.<\/p>\n \u201cNSWALC\u2019s position remains unchanged. We cannot support legislation that retrospectively validates Crown land tenures without adequate protection for undetermined Aboriginal land claims.\u201d<\/p>\n NSWALC, La Perouse LALC and MLALC were contacted for comment.<\/p>\n Minister Kamper has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n frank.chung@news.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 with Heath Parkes-Hupton<\/p>\n