This followed revelations on 11 March that a draft bill for amending the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act had been sighted by a South Australian academic. At that stage traditional owners had not been advised of any intention to change the legislation, raising concern of a lack of proper consultion with traditional owners over any changes.

The concerns were confirmed by the March 23 announcement, which sought submissions on changes to the legistaltion by 20 April 2005 - less than a month from the announcement of the review.

ANTaR SA wrote to the South Australian Premier expressing concern about the process for the review and arguing that "there needs to be longer period of time to permit Anangu to be adequately informed (to obtain independent legal advice), and then be able to conduct consultations among their communities, in their way, so as to reach informed positions on the issues that are involved in the Review".

The letter also sought an extension of the timeframe for the review and for funding for the traditional owners of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands to enable them to access independent legal advice.

Despite concern and protest from traditional owners, the Rann Government passed the amendment package through the South Australian Lower House at 4am on 20 October 2005.

Anangu Traditional Owners are continuing a campaign to defeat the amendments. Their latest media release can be viewed ...here>>

Further developments will be updated on this website.