Kangaroo Island

There are only three areas of Australia that weren’t occupied by indigenous folk at the time of white occupation; parts of the Nullabor, parts of the Simpson Desert, and Kangaroo Island.

Probably a few of the smaller island weren’t occupied either, for exactly the same reason that Kangaroo Island wasn’t; the aborigines didn’t have much in the way of sea going vessels.

Kangaroo Island had been occupied for tens of thousands of years and the thinking is that it got cut off from the mainland around 6,000 years ago due to rising seas levels.

Around 2,500 years ago it looks like climate change got the better of the ‘remnant’ locals and that was that.

I have always thought that Indigenous Title should be declared over all of Australia as part of reparations. Then a minimal rent should be charged to all land holders and paid to some sort of Future Fund for Indigenous affairs.

Even if the rent was tiny (similar to current state duties or land tax so as not create an uproar) it’d add up after a while

Under this model the only useful Free Title in the whole of Australia would be Kangaroo Island. Maybe in time all the truly racist nutters would concentrate there and we could cut off transport back to the mainland (again).

Even Native Title would be junior to Indigenous Title.

Apart from the lease payments there would be no covenants in Indigenous Title on land use; these would be governed by existing titles.

The Indigenous Future Fund would be interesting beast. Who’d run it? And what would they do with the money?

The problem in Australia is that pots of money attract rent seekers, both black and white and every tone in-between. In fact, rent seeking is our number one national skill set. Stan, it’s the one set of values shared by us all!

The solution is to suggest that the Fund could only use its money to buy land and cancel the so-acquired junior titles (so it can’t be resold). Over time it would simply become a larger and larger land owner.

Of course it would continue to get rent from this so acquired land when leased, and eventually there would be no more land to buy.

So what to with the proceeds then? But that would take centuries so I don’t have to solve this problem now.

The interesting thing about this idea is that it is a complete artifice. On the surface it looks like Indigenous reparations are being effected but in fact it’s just a scheme to transfer land holdings to a constitutionally defined authority that just keeps growing (unlike Crown Land holdings that just keep shrinking) and that can’t be touched by government.

And the sneaky part of the plan?

Well, firstly, for residential land the rent to foreign nationals would be much higher.

Secondly, the fully owned land could be used by the Fund to artificially control land value by offering low rents, thereby forcing our excess wealth into more productive activities.

Lower cost housing would up add up to less stressed Australians. This type of animal would be much better at karma.

In fact, my personal belief is that the high cost of housing is the root cause of our current ethical/spiritual/economic malaise (you choose; they are all correct). If I have to explain why, I will. But I think it’s pretty obvious.

Indigenous affairs could only be improved by a model that fixes these issues and allows for Australians to be a little more ethical and spiritual, and with an improved economic situation that would allow us to throw a few more dollars at the situation.