New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS ACT 1983 - SECT 54

54 Local Aboriginal Land Council membership rolls

(cf former section 7(1) and (2))

(1) The chief executive officer of a Local Aboriginal Land Council must, in respect of the Local Aboriginal Land Council area, prepare and maintain a Local Aboriginal Land Council membership roll (the
"membership roll" ).

(2) The chief executive officer of a Local Aboriginal Land Council must list on the membership roll for the area of the Council the names and addresses of those persons who are qualified for membership.

(2A) A person is qualified for membership if--

(a) the person is an adult Aboriginal person who resides within the area of the Local Aboriginal Land Council concerned and is accepted as being qualified on that basis to be a member by a meeting of the Council, or

(b) the person is an adult Aboriginal person who has a sufficient association with the area of the Local Aboriginal Land Council concerned (as determined by the voting members of the Council at a meeting of the Council) and is accepted as being qualified on that basis to be a member by a meeting of the Council, or

(c) the person is an Aboriginal owner in relation to land within the area of the Local Aboriginal Land Council concerned and has made a written application for membership in accordance with subsection (3).

(2B) The membership roll must indicate whether a member is a person who is included on the roll because of residence or association, or as an Aboriginal owner, and must indicate the basis for that inclusion.

(3) A person seeking to be accepted as a member of a Local Aboriginal Land Council must make and submit to that Council a written application for that membership that--

(a) declares that the person is eligible for inclusion on the membership roll, and

(b) sets out the grounds (other than acceptance as being qualified at a meeting) on which the person is qualified for inclusion on the membership roll, and

(b1) sets out the basis on which the person asserts his or her Aboriginal descent and, if the application declares that the person has a sufficient association with that Council's area, the basis of that association, and

(c) if the person is seeking to be accepted as a voting member of the Council--attaches a notice from the Registrar declaring that the person is not a voting member of any other Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Note : If a person is a voting member of one Local Aboriginal Land Council and wishes to join and become a voting member of another Local Aboriginal Land Council, the person must first be accepted as a non-voting member of the second Local Aboriginal Land Council under this section. The person must then make a nomination under section 56 to change the Council in which the person intends to have voting rights.

(4) A person must not make an application for membership of an Aboriginal Land Council that the persons knows, or ought reasonably to know, is false or misleading in a material particular.

Maximum penalty (subsection (4)): 10 penalty units.

Note : An Aboriginal person may request that the Registrar issue a compliance direction under Part 12 if the person believes a Local Aboriginal Land Council has, in contravention of this Act--

(a) failed or refused to list the person's name on the membership roll of the Council, or

(b) removed the person's name from that roll.