Bakrie warns, settle Australian land titles<\/p>\n
SYDNEY (AFP): Indonesian businessman Aburizal Bakrie warned
\nhere yesterday that investors could be frightened off if
\nuncertainty over land rights for Aboriginals persisted.<\/p>\n
\"If that continues to be an issue, a big issue, everybody will
\nbe afraid to own land on Australia or invest, even in
\nmanufacturing industries or property or agriculture,\" he told The
\nSydney Morning Herald.<\/p>\n
\"If foreign investors are not sure if they hold the land or
\nnot it will be very difficult,\" Bakrie was quoted as saying.
\nHis family owns about 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres) in
\nthe Northern Territory, mostly made up of the vast Tipperary
\nstation.<\/p>\n
The Bakrie Group, which is one of the biggest foreign
\nlandowners in Australia and owns Indonesia's largest feedlot,
\nwould this year import 65,000 head of cattle from Australia, the
\nnewspaper said.<\/p>\n
In a list of foreign-controlled pastoral companies published
\nin same newspaper last week, the group was listed second behind
\nthe U.S. concern, Qld and NT Pastoral Co, and ahead of Desa
\nCattle Company of Malaysia and National Mutual of France.<\/p>\n
Among individual landowners, the Sultan of Brunei owned a
\ntotal of 6.1 million hectares (15 million acres) of pastoral
\nland, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n
Aboriginals prepared yesterday for a political fight over land
\nrights.<\/p>\n
The fight will focus on a 10-point plan drafted by Prime
\nMinister John Howard in response to a court ruling that native
\ntitle can coexist in some cases with the pastoral leases which
\ncover more than 40 percent of the continent.<\/p>\n
At Timber Creek, 600 kilometers (370 miles) southwest of
\nDarwin, Aboriginal leaders representing about 65,000 people,
\nrejected Howard's plan and burned a copy of it.<\/p>\n
They said it threatened their fundamental rights and
\nreconciliation with non-indigenous Australians for the benefit of
\na handful of rich landowners.<\/p>\n
Howard's plan would effectively, but not entirely extinguish
\nnative title on pastoral leases, impose a sunset clause on native
\nclaims and rule out claims on waterways, ocean resources and land
\nrequired for infrastructure.<\/p>\n
It would significantly upgrade pastoral rights and allow state
\ngovernments to offer exclusive land tenure.<\/p>\n
The government would fund the potentially huge compensation
\npayable to Aborigines who lose their native title rights.<\/p>\n
\"I think it is a declaration of war. That means there is going
\nto be a political war between the government and Aboriginal
\npeople,\" said Galarrwuy Yunupingu, chairman of the Northern Land
\nCouncil.<\/p>\n
Howard has \"made an enemy of the Aboriginal people of this
\nnation\", he said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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