Ruth Matchett discusses changes made in 1990 to give Indigenous Councils more control, but the subsequent lack of resources. She describes her experience of going to Lockhardt River and discovering the unacceptable situation of lack of affordable quality food. She discusses the amount of money required to remedy problems. She gives her opinion on the Northern Territory Intervention. She discusses solutions to the Stolen Wages issue.
Ruth Matchett discusses land rights policy developments, and states that the legislation was compromised to appease pastoralists and miners. Despite good outcomes for people in the Torres Strait and the Cape especially the Wik people who also benefited from the Mabo decision (native title not related to land rights legislation), the concept of enabling Aboriginal people to claim and then be granted land from Aboriginal reserves and the Deed of Grant in Trust areas (DOGIT) resulted in only modest amounts of land eventually granted.
