Leigh,
where do you get the claim that Aboriginals are "wanting to hog thousands of square kilometres of land rightly belonging to all Australians."
How do you figure that the land belongs to all Australians

Yindin. In your last para. you say that you need permission to enter your own communinity land. Curious, is that because of the permit system or some other reason?

Yindin,

Yes, it bloody annoying that intelligent reasonable discussion is hyjacked by the resident KKK member Leigh and we spend our posts dealing with his crap.

I suggest that everyone simply by pass him and engage with the article at hand.

As Brother Dave has already stated:Why are Permits Necessary?

Aboriginal land is privately owned. Aboriginal people have the legal right to grant or refuse permission to people wishing to enter or travel through their land.

Would sheep and cattle farmers comply to similar conditions of entry being imposed on 'their' land?

I don't think so.

But its ok to impose this crap on Aboriginal people?

Yeah sure

Yindin,

Yes, it bloody annoying that intelligent reasonable discussion is hyjacked by the resident KKK member Leigh and we spend our posts dealing with his crap.

I suggest that everyone simply by pass him and engage with the article at hand.

As Brother Dave has already asked and answered

Why are Permits Necessary?

Aboriginal land is privately owned. Aboriginal people have the legal right to grant or refuse permission to people wishing to enter or travel through their land.

Would sheep and cattle farmers comply to similar conditions of entry being imposed on 'their' land?

I don't think so.

But its ok to impose this crap on Aboriginal people?

What a farce!

Well, I'm quite sure the permit system is very good at protecting those at the top of the aboriginal hand out industry, while they draw their high salaries.

I'm also quite sure it protects the child molester.

I'm also quite sure it protects all the other rip off merchants, who are robbing their communities.

For the rest, once you start spending my taxes to pay for the roads, & the other facilities, it becomes public, just like any public road.

I might mention, that goes for many public roads, traversing private properties, all over Australia.

Dear Hasbeen

Almost all the formed roads through the Aboriginal freehold lands claimed under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (1976) NT have always been excluded from the the claims and have remained government property and so are not subject to the permit system. The major exception is I think a road through Arnhem Land to Nhulunbuy.

The current debate & proposed changes do not effect much of the road system which is already reasonably open; the changes apply to the town centres, and to the bits of road from the highways, airstrips and barge landings to these centres.

Re child molestors: the permit system obviously does not protect against locally based Aboriginal child molestors and abusers of under-age women, but it probably has been of some use in preventing incursions by organised networks of non-Aboriginal paedophiles. It has been used on some occasions to get rid of some such people.

The claim by an earlier poster in this thread that half the child molestation comes from non-Indigenous men living in nearby mining camps is completely inaccurate. There are problems of this nature in a couple of places (Borroloola, Yirrkala) but the proportions are probably way out - from memory I don't believe that the Anderson/Wild report supports the 50% claim, although it does identify the problem.

Re your point that the permit system "protects all the other rip off merchants, who are robbing their communities" this is a mixed bag and not as straightforward as you imagine. It certainly serves to protect the interests of some big men (and big women) who dominate and exploit some communities, and the other persons allied to them, but it has also been used at times by communities to get rid of rip-off merchants who manipulate traditional owners and others to gain control of & exploit stores, councils, medical services etc.