Aboriginal Land Councils and reserves 1983-present
From 1983, former reserves were transferred to the newly established Local Aboriginal Land Councils to own and manage. The former reserves continued to face many infrastructure and planning problems. Multiple programs have attempted to address these problems.
In 1983, land rights began in NSW with the start of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) (). The law set up a three-tier system of Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs), Regional Aboriginal Land Councils and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council. The approximately 59 former reserves, which had been owned by the Aboriginal Lands Trust (see SUB0501), were transferred to the LALCs (, ).
Housing on former reserves
LALCs were responsible for managing housing on the former reserves (). The former reserve lands were handed to the LALCs with some of the housing in a very bad state (, ). See SUB0501 and SUB0305 for more about this housing.
Provision of services to former reserves
Many local and state governments treated the former reserves as private land (meaning the LALC was responsible for services on the land). They also disagreed about who was responsible for the provision of water, sewerage and other essential services (). The NSW Aboriginal Land Council later said:
While the transfer of ownership of former reserve and mission sites to LALCs was heralded at the time as a land rights outcome, in reality LALCs had also assumed responsibility for significant liabilities in relation to the buildings and infrastructure on these lands ().
A 1988 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Report into the conditions on a former reserve at Toomelah was scathing and provides a snapshot of the issues LALCs faced (, ).
The Commission found that the main cause of the 'very bad' condition of services and housing at Toomelah was ‘the argument among all the government departments about who is responsible for fixing up the conditions and putting in proper services’ (, see also ).
It is also highlighted conflict between different levels of government saying that, as a result, the Toomelah community ‘are denied many of the benefits and services provided as a matter of right to all non-Aboriginal citizens of the State’ ().
This conflict and the fact that many former reserves had a single title meant that LALCs had ‘responsibility for providing and maintaining all services within the site’s boundary; including roads, water, sewerage, waste/garbage collection, street lighting, drainage systems, and common area management’ (). Local governments typically provided a single water connection at the boundary of a former reserve with LALCs responsible for providing infrastructure to individual houses (). This placed a large financial, bureaucratic and organisational burden on LALCs.
LALCs could collect rent for housing on the former reserves, however the rent did not cover 'maintenance and upgrade of housing and infrastructure or the provision of services such as garbage collection and street lighting' ().
Development on former reserves
The fact that most former reserves were one single property (or land title), rather than separate lots (, ) meant that the houses, roads and other land were all part of the one parcel of land (unlike in other communities). This made it hard to follow town planning laws which determine how land can be used/developed.
When the former reserves were transferred to Local Aboriginal Land Councils in 1983, development of housing and infrastructure continued ‘with disregard to’ town planning law requirements ().
In 2012, a NSW Government Review panel made recommendations to bring the development of former reserves within the NSW town planning system, calling it a ‘fundamental issue of social justice for the Aboriginal people generally and the Aboriginal communities living on or associated with these sites in particular’ ().
The NSW Aboriginal Land Council said that addressing the planning issues on former reserves would help LALCs to overcome the burden caused by infrastructure, services and asset management on former reserves ().
Infrastructure and subdivision programs
Multiple programs and changes to town planning laws have attempted to address these infrastructure and development problems.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Commonwealth Government funded programs that funded Aboriginal community housing providers and Local Aboriginal Land Councils in NSW for housing and infrastructure.
This included a Tripartite Housing and Infrastructure Program jointly managed by the then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and the NSW Government. The program was ‘designed to address the housing and infrastructure needs of 45 former reserves in NSW as well as providing training and employment opportunities for Aboriginal people’ ().
In 1987, the NSW Department of Housing started the Homes on Aboriginal Land Program. It was a short-lived program that built houses on Aboriginal-owned land using Commonwealth funds for Aboriginal housing allocated under the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement ().
In 1998, the NSW Government began the Aboriginal Communities Development Program (). This was a $240 million program with focused on capital works (repairing and replacing housing, water and sewerage) ().
An evaluation report in 2011 found the program provided an estimated 4,500 people with adequate and appropriate housing, 4,000 people with clean drinking water and sewerage treatment and 5,500 people with more functional, safer and more liveable housing. It found the program was successful in concentrating effort in a small number of communities, unlike previous funding that was ‘spread funding thinly over multiple locations' ().
However, the report found the program could not sustain the community building companies set up nor sustain an ongoing improvement in rental collection. The report also referred to a 2009 report by NSW Commerce that ‘found significant unmet needs in relation to community infrastructure’ and a 2010 report by the then Roads and Traffic Authority that found ‘a range of road safety infrastructure gaps’ ().
In 2008, when the Aboriginal Communities Development Program was nearly complete, the Aboriginal Communities Water and Sewerage Program began. This program continues today. It is a joint program of the NSW Government the NSW Aboriginal Land Council which provides recurrent funding for upgrade, maintenance and monitoring of water and sewerage infrastructure on former reserves ().
Also in 2008, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and the Commonwealth Government partnered on a $6 million Subdivision Program aiming to subdivide the 59 former reserves owned by approximately 49 LALCs (). Subdivision takes the single large parcel of land and divides it into separate smaller parcels.
The purpose of subdivision was to provide Local Aboriginal Land Councils with the opportunity to consider ‘long term tenure options, such as home ownership or long-term leasing for the residents’ (), as well as improved access and management of services infrastructure.
Ongoing issues
Despite these programs, former reserves continue to face significant town planning and infrastructure issues.
In 2011, the approximately 2,000 houses LALCs owned on former reserves continued to be a major limitation on the financial sustainability of LALC social housing schemes ().
In 2016, a submission by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council to a Parliamentary Inquiry into regional planning processes set out the planning issues many former reserves still faced, including infrastructure issues, zoning, roads that were not in a suitable condition to be dedicated as roads and maintained by local governments, access issues and encroachments ().
In 2019, the NSW Government announced $54.8m in funding for a new Roads to Home Project to upgrade roads and associated infrastructure like power and lighting in Discrete Aboriginal Communities (former reserves), including an emphasis on community leadership and local employment (, ). The program was evaluated in 2024 () and continues today.
The Roads to Home Project has an associated Roads to Home Maintenance Program providing funding for housing repairs and maintenance (, ).
As at late 2025, the NSW Government was assessing the condition of infrastructure in 61 Discrete Aboriginal Communities to ‘help plan future upgrades and repairs’ ().
The law and policy in this subject is accurate as of 9 June 2026.