Canning Stock Route

As far as I know the restrictions are put in place by order under the public health laws. These have very broad powers. For example currently the only two access points into WA are through Kununurra and Eucla. There are many other road and tracks, but they are all out of bounds. I doubt that anyone is checking all these tracks for compliance, but should you get caught, then the penalties for breaching a public health order are potentially severe.

I would have thought that if a permit is required to drive but none are being issued at the moment..then you are not allowed to drive it. I had a special permit that allowed me to drive on all roads to and from Aboriginal communities. If a section was closed for any reason we were notified and depending on the nature of my work I was normally exempt. Public were not allowed on the roads without a permit. As WA is rife with covid at the moment I would say that it would be very irresponsible to travel. Even though communities may not be on the agenda...breakdowns/accidents could see contact made with indigenous people. You have asked a few questions trying to see if there is a get around the permit requirement. As I said...if a permit is required then you should have one.

There's a few different issues here.
When this topic comes up there's normally a fair bit of confusion.

Native Title has been granted over the land the CSR passes through, through different groups of Traditional Owners who now issue a single permit for transit.

However the actual CSR itself is exempt from Native Title. This is the original temporary reserve, or easement from Halls Creek down to Wiluna. 1 mile wide from Halls Creek to the Wolfe Creek / Sturt Creek Junction and 5 miles wide from there to Wiluna.

The truth be known - this easement is no longer a easement and was never actually gazetted as a stock route. The land has since reverted to unallocated crown land. It is this strip of land that is exempt from the Native Title Determination - Federal Legislation.

However, the route/tracks that most CSR travelers use does not line up with the strip of land that is exempt from Native Title. This is as the first vehicles that used the route and made the track took the easiest way, not the shortest way.

Technically, if you followed the route of the exemption and did not deviate from it onto the adjacent Native Title Land then you would not be in breach of the Native Title Legislation. This though would be too great an undertaking for the standard CSR traveler. You basically would have to keep a straight line between the wells - many wells do not have directly connected tracks so in order to comply you would have to scrub bash etc...The line between Well 47 and 48 is a good example of this.

The issue of not being allowed access into certain communities is a separate state issue. When Covid happened the state pushed through legislation to enable communities to be locked down to outsiders (with exceptions for essential workers etc.)

The communities themselves could choose if they were to be part of the lockdown - so far, the communities adjacent to the CSR have chosen to be locked down.

By not issuing CSR permits, the traditional owners have essentially granted themselves almost exclusive access to the CSR - they have been doing work through the pandemic the entire time on the CSR - so others traveling the normal vehicle route could introduce some risk of covid to the lands if they enter the area.

There is another thing to consider here and that is the state legislation, the Aboriginal Heritage Act. There are places along the actual stock route that are listed as registered sites as part of the act - and some have restrictions, such as no access, or men only.

By utilising a permit access to most of these places is granted with the permit. If you do not have a permit then you will have to do your own research on the places along the CSR that are restricted or risk breaching the Act.

Hi Mark W44
Rather than try and reply to your queries, this cuts across them.

The roads go through the the Aboriginal land and are clearly covered by the Aboriginal Lands Act. If you are on the track then you are within the boundaries of the reserve. From a summary of the Act -

(1) Whenever any person, not being a person of Aboriginal descent
or a person authorised under the Act or these regulations to enter
or remain within the boundaries of a reserve, desires for any
stated reason to enter or remain in any reserve, he shall apply to
the Minister for permission so to do and the Minister may grant
such permission to enter accordingly

Further reading -

Aboriginal Land Act (NT) 1992
Authorised by section 73 of the ALRA.
Section 4 makes it an offence for people to enter or remain on Aboriginal land (and certain roads) without a permit (penalty: $1000).
Section 8 says the legislation does not authorise the entry of a person to a dwelling without the permission of the owner or the occupant. 'Dwelling' includes the living area of a camp occupied by or belonging to an Aboriginal person.
Section 11 empowers the Administrator on the recommendation of a Land Council to declare an area of Aboriginal land, or a road, to be an 'open area' or an 'open road' which can be entered without a permit.
permits can be issued by:
the traditional owners of the area concerned
the relevant Land Council
the Administrator of the Northern Territory – where a person has applied for a permit to use a road and has been refused or the permit has not been issued in a reasonable time
the relevant Northern Territory Minister – in respect of certain Commonwealth or Northern Territory Government employees
the Land Council and the traditional owners can revoke their own or each other’s permits and delegate their authority to issue permits. With some exceptions permits are issued without charge.

The Act and legislation is littered with references to roads and nowhere states that any roads are exempt from permits unless the relevant authority states they are exempt. The traditional owners would not be stating that you need permits to enter their land, even on a public road, if they didn't have a legal leg to stand on. PAR's are regularly closed in every state by the authorities that control them, usually for defined reasons such as flooding etc. The roads through Aboriginal lands may be public but they are controlled by the relevant land council and they do have the authority to close them. In this case, the road is closed for public health reasons.

The Kuju Wangka statement 2 weeks ago is clear. The CSR is closed. I tire of folk unable to accept that traditional owners of country are allowed to exercise their rights. . Show some respect instead of trying to find loopholes to get your own way. If you found some sort of legal loophole it wouldn't make it morally ok to ignore the Kuju Wangka statement.

Track Care WA has recently signed an MOU with WDLAC (Martu people) and with their permission we will undertake our usual maintenance run of the CSR and as part of this we will be running a mapping project as well. Data has already been collated as to the "Legal" boundary of the CSR corridor, it's now a matter of tracing the actual route and overlay this. We know from previous trips that the track does indeed travel outside the corridor but we wish to do this in a more formal manner to clear up any confusion.
Rod Durston
Vicechair
Track Care WA

Outside the scope of the topic, but....., I wonder how this would "fly" if we applied it to another group within society.......

(1) Whenever any person, not being a person of Aboriginal descent

ASW got permission directly.. Looking forward to his video.