This is a copy of a Daily Mail Australia article that appeared on Tuesday, September 6th 2023 . (link)
Balmoral Beach Aboriginal land claim: Chunk of 'prestigious' and affluent Sydney suburb worth $100m is claimed by an Indigenous group
By Ashley Nickel for Daily Mail Australia
A Sydney council has voted unanimously to oppose a Native Title Land Claim on one of the city's favourite family beaches and prime pieces of real estate.
In a closed session on Tuesday night Mosman Council in the city's north committed itself to opposing the claim by Sydney's Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council for the Lawry Plunkett Reserve situated on Balmoral Beach.
The reserve is 4000sq/m area of parkland between between Botanic Road and Plunkett Road sitting just off of the Esplanade and is a favourite spot for walks and picnics by locals and tourists.
Balmoral Beach is widely considered to be one of Sydney's best family beaches featuring a strip of vibrant cafes and restaurants surrounded by some of the city's most 'prestigious' real estate.
The 4000sq/m area of parkland between Botanic Road and Plunkett Road sits just off of the Esplanade at Balmoral, on Sydney's lower north shore
A Sydney council is set to debate a confidential claim on a $100million block of land at Balmoral Beach, without anyone from the public in attendance
Following the meeting on Tuesday night former Mosman deputy mayor, who was deposed from that position at the meeting, Roy Bendall spoke to Sydney radio station 2GB.
Councillor Bendall said the claim for the land was made under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1983, which allows Land Councils to claim 'unused Crown land'.
'We are amazed this is even subject to a claim,' Councillor Bendall said as council had been tending the reserve for over a 100 years and it was 'highly used' for public recreation and had bush care groups tending to it.
He said council voted not just to 'strongly' oppose the claim but to 'use all our resources possible to try to fight this claim'.
The claim dates from 2009 but has only now entered the assessment phase when Council is notified and only have a month to respond.
Councillor Bendall said the responsible NSW government departments also decreed that it remain classified up until about 30 minutes before the council meeting.
'We had to agree not to put in the media, not put it to the public not tell the residents who are next to the claim that this was happening,' Councillor Bendall said.
'We spent a week trying to find out what was the basis of the legal confidentiality.'
A Mosman Council spokesperson said the claim had been rejected after 'lengthy debate and representations from local residents'.
The Council unanimously resolved ... that the land has been lawfully used and is required for essential public purposes, and therefore should in no way be considered claimable land.'
Coucillor Bendall said there were worrying precedents for the reserve because of what has happened in other local government areas 'especially down in the Northern Beaches with Lizard Rock and in the Waverton Bowling Club at our neighbours in North Sydney.
'One a claim is made and freehold title is given to the claimants then Council is in a terrible position where we are no longer are the manager of the Crown land,' he said.
'Although we have zoning control then it only requires an application to the department of zoning to do something else with the land,' he said.
Sydney's Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council CEO Nathan Moran revealed on Wednesday morning there are almost 3,000 Native Titles claims for land in Sydney yet to be assessed and for NSW the total is a staggering 40,000.
Mr Moran explained that under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1983 Native Title can be claimed on any Crown land that is not being used or is being used for purposes other than its original gazettal as compensation of original dispossession.
However, he said that prior to 2018 Land Councils, which are the elected Indigenous bodies who can make claims, were denied access to gazette data and so had to make claims 'blindly' on the 'suspicion' it was not being used for its proper purpose.
'Prior to 2018 ... we would simply look at a site, understand it and realise is it potentially not used by government than we would make claims,' he said.
About two thirds of claims made by the Metropolitan council have been rejected he said.
'Not all claims are actually made successfully and granted to us,' he said.
Mr Moran said he 'found it hard to believe' Mosman Council did not have record that attest to the claim made 14 years ago.
'I am a bit bewildered by that statement they didn’t know about it,' he told Fordham.
Mr Moran said if they were granted the area near Balmoral Beach 'a range of opportunities comes up'.
'We always look through the eyes of it is cultural, it is social, it is environmental is it recreational, or is commercial/residential,' he said,
'That’s the prisms we understand all land for is generally. We approach it by case-by-basis.'
He sent the Metropolitian Council worked with local bodies who had been using the land.
'We don’t kick anyone off,' Mr Moran said.
'We work with them and offer licences to continue that relationships.'
Former Prime Minister and member for Warringah Tony Abbott told 2GB he fears similar claims could increase if the Voice referendum is successful.
'I'm a little reluctant to comment on a land claim that I know nothing about,' Mr Abbott said.
'Except to say that there is nothing happening in this space that's not likely to accelerate and intensify should the Voice be established.'
Balmoral Beach (pictured) is widely considered to be one of Sydney's best family beaches featuring a strip of vibrant cafes and restaurants surrounded by 'prestigious' real estate
Mosman Council, on Sydney's lower North Shore, will discuss the confidential matter behind closed doors on Tuesday night, with the 4000sq/km area of parkland between Botanic Road and Plunkett Road sitting just off of the Esplanade
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