In Short
Commonwealth agency Parks Australia and traditional owners of Kakadu National Park are set to sign a new agreement.It includes an economic development fund that will give traditional owner groups greater say over how funding is spent.
What’s next?
The government says traditional owners are set to soon finalise the agreement ahead of Gunlom Falls’ reopening in May.
A fractured relationship between Kakadu traditional owners and the Commonwealth could see some repair with the signing of a new lease on the iconic national park.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek was in Jabiru on Monday to spruik the agreement which would mark the first time the lease has been renewed in almost 30 years.
The federal government said traditional owners were set to soon finalise the agreement which the Commonwealth signed in February.
Last week’s budget allocated $55.2 million over four years to finalise the lease agreements for Kakadu, Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Booderee national parks which are jointly managed by traditional owners and Commonwealth agency Parks Australia.
It comes ahead of the reopening of Gunlom Falls this May which has been closed to tourists for nearly six years.
The major tourism drawcard was closed in 2019 after Parks Australia built a path through a sacred men’s site which it was later fined for.
Ms Plibersek said the new agreement would better support Kakadu traditional owners to live and work on country through the creation of their own economic development fund.
“Traditional owners will have the ability to invest that into upgraded facilities or business opportunities or whatever they decide is the priority for them,” she said.
“It’s a really important investment in the local economy as well as upgrading facilities for visitors.”
Ms Plibersek said Twin Falls, which has also been closed since 2019, was set to reopen next dry season after infrastructure upgrades.
New lease reflects traditional owners’ ‘vision’
Northern Land Council chair Matthew Ryan said the agreement marked an “important step” and the government had committed to working “in good faith” with traditional owners.
“These new leases and partnership agreement reflect the vision traditional owners have held for a long time — to care for country, share it with the world, and create a better future where traditional owners have a greater say in caring for the park,” he said.
“Traditional owners want to keep living on their country, protecting culture, and sharing Kakadu with visitors. These new arrangements make that possible.”
Mr Ryan said the agreement would also bring economic benefit to the territory through tourism and local jobs.
The park’s management board chair Ryan Barrowei, from the Wurrkbarbar clan group in Kakadu’s southern region, also welcomed the agreement.
“The board and most of our traditional owners have been involved in rebuilding that relationship, also fixing up and getting Gunlom back to where it was,” he said.
A marred history
While Kakadu’s First Peoples and Parks Australia have often failed to see eye-to-eye, several points of conflict have recently moved towards resolutions.
Last year Parks Australia was handed a historic $200,000 fine after pleading guilty to damaging the Gunlom Falls sacred site through the construction of the walkway.
The lease of uranium deposits at Jabiluka to majority Rio Tinto-owned Energy Resources Australia (ERA) has also caused tension between the Mirarr people and the government over the past 30 years.
While the site was never developed for mining, traditional owners received no assurance their land would be protected.
But last year the Commonwealth blocked the renewal of ERA’s lease and said the site would become part of Kakadu National Park and returned to the Mirarr people.
Conditions of the park have been another pressure point in recent years.
In 2020, a group of Aboriginal park rangers raised concerns about site closures, maintenance, staff cuts, lack of jobs for local Indigenous people, and a series of uncontrolled fires in the park.
The invasion of cane toads, feral pigs, buffalo, horses and gamba grass has caused widespread damage to the environment and native wildlife.
The township of Jabiru, the tourism hub of Kakadu, has also been in need of upgrades to meet the world-class standards the park promises.
In 2023, the federal government promised $250 million in extra funding for Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta national parks.