Organisation says government can ‘sit’ on property without using it under planned change
The Law Society of New South Wales has urged the NSW government to immediately withdraw a provision in the Crown Land Management Amendment (Statutory Review) Bill 2026 that could jeopardise Aboriginal land rights in the state.
According to Ronan MacSweeney, the law society’s president, the organisation called for the referral of the rest of the legislation, proposing to amend the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (NSW) (CLMA), to a parliamentary inquiry.
In a media release, the law society said the proposed new s 5.20B(4) of the CLMA would treat the simple granting of a lease under the CLMA as “lawful use for the purposes of another Act,” which would enable the government to “bank” any Crown land merely by granting a lease and “sit” on that land without using it.
The law society added that the disputed provision in the bill could potentially thwart Aboriginal communities’ otherwise valid claims to disused Crown lands and lead to additional injustice to the state’s Aboriginal people.
In the media release, MacSweeney explained that the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) (ALRA) seeks to:
MacSweeney noted that the proposed new s 5.20B(4) in the bill could significantly impact land rights claims under the ALRA and alter what people have long considered land claimable under the ALRA, as reaffirmed in the Quarry Street High Court ruling in 2025.
According to him, the planned amending legislation “appears to overturn the Quarry Street decision and override longstanding practice under the ALRA, through which Aboriginal communities are able to claim land rights on Crown land that is ‘not lawfully used or occupied’.”
Per MacSweeney, apart from the proposed new s 5.20B(4), the bill includes numerous other provisions that respond to a rushed statutory review of the CLMA that had been recently conducted.
He relayed the law society’s concerns that the proposed new s 5.20B(4) was:
“The Law Society is concerned that proposed s 5.20B has been inserted into this Bill, rather than via direct amendment to the ALRA itself, to avoid scrutiny of a measure which would undermine the purpose and operation of the ALRA,” MacSweeney said in the media release.
“This Bill was introduced without consultation, without notice and without respect,” said Dr Raymond Kelly, chairperson of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC), in another media release.
“The Bill will have a significant impact on the viability of Local Councils and [Local Aboriginal Land Councils] across NSW, with the Minister having powers to impose costs and make orders with respect to neighbouring properties,” added Leeanne Hampton, NSWALC deputy chairperson.
