Joint Management
the park is proclaimed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and is managed through a joint management arrangement between the Aboriginal traditional owners and the Director of National Parks. The Director manages Commonwealth national parks through Parks Australia, which is a part of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
Approximately 50% of the land in the park is Aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, and most of the remaining area of land is under claim by Aboriginal people. Title to Aboriginal land in the park is held by Aboriginal land trusts. The land trusts have leased their land to the Director of National Parks for the purpose of a national park for the enjoyment and benefit of all Australians. Traditional owners have also expected that having their land managed as a national park would assist them in looking after their land in the face of growing and competing pressures. They saw a national park as establishing a way to manage the land that could protect their interests and be sympathetic to their aspirations. Parks Australia and the Aboriginal traditional owners of Kakadu are committed to the principle of joint management of the park and arrangements to help this happen are highlighted throughout the Kakadu National Park Management Plan (2007-2014).
Joint management changes over time and there is no single model for jointly managing national parks. Joint management in Kakadu combines a legal structural framework set in place by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, lease agreements with the traditional owners of Aboriginal land in the park, and the continuing day to day relationship between Parks Australia staff and traditional owners.
Parks Australia, the traditional owners and other Aboriginal people work continuously to refine and develop the process of joint management. The aim is to ensure that the joint management of the park is as effective as possible.
Joint management cannot work unless the partners trust each other and are committed to making it work. Just as when people live and work closely together, there can be disagreements at times. Joint management is about deciding things, solving problems and sharing responsibility for decisions. It is about the joint management partners feeling comfortable in the relationship and that they benefit from it. Traditional owners of Kakadu have repeatedly stated their commitment to working with Parks Australia in jointly managing the park. Parks Australia is also committed to continue working in a joint management arrangement with the traditional owners.
In 1995 Parks Australia commissioned a consultant, Dr David Lawrence, to write a history of the establishment of the park and to comment on the joint management arrangements. The draft report details how joint management is understood and what it means in Kakadu, both historically and currently. The consultant identified several 'crucial issues' that need to be addressed before joint management will operate completely successfully.
These issues are:
- how strong and effective the Board of Management is;
- employing and training Aboriginal staff;
- growth of park management bureaucracy;
- who owns, manages and uses research done in the park;
- managing feral animals and weeds; and
- tourism and providing access to new areas.
The Kakadu National Park Management Plan addresses these issues. The Plan tries to identify a way of making sure park management decisions are better shared by the joint management partners, as are the problems and responsibilities of managing a large and complex national park.