A protracted plan for a new Riverina tourist attraction has suffered another setback at the hands of legal red tape.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The brakes have been applied on the long-awaited national road transport museum touted for Tarcutta after changes to the Native Title Act.
The government has scrambled to change the Act after a federal court ruling threw land use agreements into doubt.
Australian Long Distance Owners and Driving Association president Bunny Brown, who is helping to drive the ambitious Tarcutta Truck Museum project, is frustrated over the delays.
Council approved a crown land lease conditional agreement in 2015 to develop a national road transport museum, men’s shed and tourist facilities on the north side of the town.
One of the conditions was that any development on the land was subject to consent.
“I just want answers,” Mr Brown said.
“I’ve put two years of work into it.”
Crown Lands advised council in June last year that it was unable to grant ministerial consent to the lease because they could not find any evidence to confirm that Native Title had been extinguished, which was passed on to Mr Brown.
Wagga City Council Acting General Manager Robert Knight said the Crown Land procedure changes meant there now has to be an assumption that a Native Title exists unless it is proven to be extinguished.
“No Native Title claim existed over the land when council resolved to enter into a lease,” Mr Knight said.
“However, due to Native Title court cases which have taken place in the intervening period (creating precedent), Crown Lands has changed its procedure in relation to approval of lease agreements.
“When Mr Brown was informed of the Crown Land’s advice in June 2016 he was advised that his organisation did not have legal tenure of the land and should not use or occupy the land.
“At the time Mr Brown was halfway through building (a rural style shed) so he was advised to ‘complete the shed and then do no more’.”
Museum committee member Denis Robertson said any delay was disappointing, but understood Wagga City Council’s hands were effectively tied.
“We realise from a practical point of view that they have to make sure everything is in order,” Mr Robertson said.
