Rev. Fred Nile - A History of Supporting Aboriginal Issues

Rev. Hon. Fred Nile MLC’S history of supporting aboriginal legislation, reconciliation and selfdetermination.

Since first entering parliament in 1981, Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC has supported a total of 12 Bills specifically related to Aboriginal land rights – Aboriginal Land Rights Bills, and Native Title (New South Wales) Bills. Rev Nile also supported five Bills that either made significant amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 with regards to land rights or awarded land rights to Aboriginal peoples (for example, the National Park Estate (Land Transfers) Bill 1998).

The Aboriginal land rights legislation supported by Rev. Nile from 1983 to 2019 are listed below:

Aboriginal Land Rights (Amendment) Bill 1986
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Aboriginal Land Rights (Revival of Financial Provision) Bill 1990
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Aboriginal Land Rights (Amendment) Bill 1990

Aboriginal Land Rights (Amendment) Bill 1991

Native Title (New South Wales) Bill 1994

Aboriginal Land Rights Amendment Bill 1995

National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Aboriginal Ownership) Bill 1996

National Park Estate (Land Transfers) Bill 1981Aboriginal Land Rights Amendment Bill 2001

National Park Estate (Reservations) Bill 2002

State Property Authority Bill 2006

Aboriginal Land Rights Amendment Bill 2006Aboriginal Land Rights Amendment Bill 2009

National Park Estate (South-Western Cypress Reservations) Bill 2010

Aboriginal Land Rights Amendment Bill 2013Aboriginal Land Rights Amendment Bill 2014

Aboriginal Land Rights Amendment (Local Aboriginal Land Councils) Bill 2016

Because of Rev. Nile’s support the state of NSW is the only state in Australia that has an Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983

Most recently Rev. Nile gave his support for the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Amendment (Family is Culture Review) Bill 2022.

Rev Nile has pioneered the campaign for an Aboriginal War Memorial Museum, this would be the first of its kind in Australia. In 2021 Rev. Nile made the recommendation for an Aboriginal War Memorial Museum to recognise the frontier wars and massacres as part of the Standing Committees on Social Issues review of the Heritage Act 1977.

The committee unanimously approved this recommendation and the Government has supported the recommendation in principle. To date Rev. Nile has been in constant communication with the government to make this a reality. This museum would be the first in Australia to formalise the Aboriginal history of the frontier wars and massacres. It will be a place of truth telling where the stories of those who have fallen would be honoured, remembered and shared with all of Australia and the world.

In the last 4 years Rev. Nile has been working with The Greening the Gaps Sub-Committee that he initiated. This sub-committee was formed to discuss the development and implementation of an “Aboriginal Enterprise Demonstration Project.” The initial pilot program is to employ 500 Aboriginal Landscape graduates to plant Indigenous landscapes along the M5 corridor. The project is scalable and the intention for it is to be rolled out to all Motorways across the NSW.

Rev. Nile has always supported Aboriginal self-determination. In Australia’s Bicentennial year, 1988 he joined a group of senior Aboriginal Christian leaders to promote reconciliation throughout New South Wales. Then again in 1998, Rev. Nile invited Aboriginal and ethnic communities to join in a reconciliation March and Hyde Park Rally, with the Minister for Immigration Philip Ruddock and the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Frank Sartor as special speakers.
The committee unanimously approved this recommendation and the Government has supported the recommendation in principle. To date Rev. Nile has been in constant communication with the government to make this a reality. This museum would be the first in Australia to formalise the Aboriginal history of the frontier wars and massacres. It will be a place of truth telling where the stories of those who have fallen would be honoured, remembered and shared with all of Australia and the world.

Bicentennial activities 1988 focused on reconciliation. Rev. Nile with Aboriginal musicians from Muli Muli in Richard Johnson Square, Sydney.

The Aboriginal Heritage Cultural ‘Culture is Identity’ Bill 2022 is the culmination of Rev. Nile’s many years of support for First Nations People.
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‍The purpose of this Bill is to prevent the destruction of Aboriginal heritage by awarding true custodianship of sites, objects and remains to a newly created state agency; the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Council (ACH Council). The ACH Council itself designates local services for specific sites, objects and remains of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and any permits to move, harm or destroy said items must be approved by the ACH Council in consultation with the local service and Aboriginal stakeholders.

This Bill also seeks to fulfill the objectives of the Uluru Statement from the Heart by committing to the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process to develop proposals to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples a say in the laws, policies and programs that affect them. Victoria has gone further by adopting the Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Framework (VAAF) which states in its objectives ‘Self-determination is the guiding principle in Aboriginal affairs. Aboriginal self determination underpinned the development of the VAAF, as it will underpin all future action across Victoria’. This NSW Bill seeks to incorporate the same intention as the VAAF.

We ran out of parliamentary sitting time to get the bill through but within a year we managed to get this bill introduced into parliament and through a committee review. This is something none of the major parties were able to achieve in 40 years.

The cherry on the cake came when at a press conference in November 2022 the ALP, The Greens, Animal Justice Party and Independent Members committed to introducing stand-alone Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Legislation. Legislation that would closely resemble the bill I had initially introduced.