Central Land Council delegates have elected Sammy Wilson as CLC chair and Barbara Shaw as deputy chair at their meeting at Yulara Pulka outstation near Uluru.
Mr Wilson, the chair of the board of joint management of the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park and owner/operator of cultural tourism company Uluru Family Tours, pipped Ms Shaw by four votes, according to a CLC media release.
“It feels very special to be elected on my grandfather’s Paddy Uluru’s country,” Mr Wilson is quoted.
“I think he would be very happy.”
Mr Wilson, from Mutitjulu community, vowed to pursue the Uluru Statement from the Heart with whomsoever wins the coming federal election.
“I will tell them we’re not about taking over the government. We want to sit down with them at the same table and be listened to.”
Ms Shaw was elected deputy chair with 41 votes, only the second woman in the CLC’s history to win the office.
“My election results shows that the Central Land Council is ready for change,” she is quoted in the release.
Ms Shaw is a youth worker at the Tangentyere’s Brown Street Youth Drop-in Centre and works with Tangentyere’s womens family safety group targeting domestic violence in Alice Springs town camps.
She represents the Northern Territory on the Uluru Statement working group, and has been employed by the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT.
Ms Shaw stood as a Green Party candidate for the seat of Lingiari in 2010 and 2013.
Elected CLC delegates from 75 remote communities and outstations across the south of the Northern Territory also voted for the members of the CLC’s executive and the Aboriginals Benefit Account (ABA) advisory committee.
Mr Wilson thanked the outgoing CLC chair, Francis Kelly, for his six years of service and presented him with a kulata (spear) and spear thrower (mirru). The CLC election was carried out by the Northen Territory Electoral Commission.
Friday, April 19, 2024
The freedom of the press still furnishes that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide – Chicago Tribune.
Well done to both. Great news, Barbara.
For global tourists Uluru climb must continue?
Where is Barb a delegate for?
They gonna be kicking the poor bugga out of the meeting when they talk about sacred sites and cultural issues. They need to put a line through this and put a wati [man] back in.
@TJ: What happens when they talk about sacred sites and cultural issues concerning the women?
In traditional Anangu society, men and women have distinct but equally important roles, performing specific tasks that benefit the whole community.
There are male sacred sites (men’s business) which are forbidden to women and women’s sacred sites (women’s business) which are forbidden to men.
National Park Management Plan 2020: The Working Together painting by Jennifer Taylor Uluru-Kata Tjuta has a central circle representing the park.
The twelve seated figures are the members of the Board of Management: Four pairs of male and female Anangu (the brown) and four Piranpa (the white).
So could you explain your comment regarding Barb?
Evelyn: When wati [men – ED] are on the road no one should be on it.
They have women’s meetings all the time.
The board of CLC was set up so the leaders of a community area which is WATI could hold his respect and protect his country and people after the whites had taken it.
The fight begun with the men (TJILPI) to gain some of their land back.