Speaking at the Garma Festival key forum in north-eastern Arnhem Land on Saturday, at one of the country's largest indigenous events, Djawa Yunupingu said the Yolngu people no longer need the NLC to help them administer the economic activity on their land.
"Land ownership is core for the Yolngu identity, it gives us a sense in the modern world," he said.
"The only way the land comes alive in today's world is for us to own the land, to be given control."
This was where the original battle for land rights began in Arnhem Land, he said, when elders wanted to keep others out of their lands.
"That is why (they) designed the land council system; they wanted to give their people a chance to breathe a little after all the threats to their land and their lives. They built something of a wall around the land."
But in order to economically progress, that wall needed to be toppled, he said.
"Today we are ready to take back authority over the land we own and start to use the riches of the land. At the moment we feel that the land council has become a bit distanced for our liking."
He said for years NLC lawyers and anthropologists had worked endlessly to protect Yolngu lands and rights, and he said the new CEO Joe Morrison was his friend and a "very good representative" for Aboriginal people.
"We don't want to rush; we don't want a fight either," Mr Yunupingu said.
"We want an orderly process for preparing us so we can have the wealth of the land to make our people strong and prosperous."
Share
