As the new Registrar of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (ALRA) I would like to introduce myself. I am a senior solicitor with more than 15 years of experience in law, governance, management and land rights.
As you may already be aware the role of Registrar of the ORALRA includes:
- Maintaining the Registers of Aboriginal Land Claims and Aboriginal Owners;
- Maintaining a consolidated roll of all members of Local Aboriginal Land Councils;
- Mediation, conciliation or arbitration of disputes relating to the ALRA;
- Investigating complaints and providing support to Local Aboriginal Land Councils to ensure compliance with the ALRA; and
- Providing advice to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in relation to Aboriginal Land Rights.
Over the next year our team at the Office of the Registrar of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act will be working to improve access to our services, including updating the process for making Aboriginal Land Claims.
The Office of the Registrar has recently drafted a Strategic Plan 2018-21. The Plan is currently being distributed throughout the Aboriginal land council network and relevant Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal organisations for comment; it is available here for your reference. If you would like to comment on the Plan, please contact us through the email address given below.
I look forward to working with all Local Aboriginal Land Councils in the future and can be contacted on by phone on 02 8633 1266, or by email to adminofficer@oralra.nsw.gov.au.