when politics and personalities sometimes become the focus of the decision-making,<\/a> but this decision is measured in something far greater,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\u201cIt is measured trust, it is measured reconciliation, and it is measured in our willingness to acknowledge the enduring connection of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people to our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Elliot spoke in favour of the proposal but took issue with it having been drafted without public consultation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot to like about this proposal \u2026 but all that\u2019s really happened so far has been internal discussions,\u201d she said. \u201cThe ship hasn\u2019t sailed.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was echoed by Mr Zucco, who said that with a successful vote the council risked \u201cputting the cart before the horse\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Elliot drew laughs from the public gallery when she said she hoped the handback would function as a \u201ctruce\u201d with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community that would encourage them to \u201cleave our statues and placards alone\u201d, referencing vandalism of colonial monuments.<\/p>\n
A jibe at the \u201cever-so-rude-constantly Greens\u201d resulted in Ms Reynolds handing her a warning \u2013 Ms Elliot\u2019s second that night.<\/p>\n
Mr Coats said he was \u201csad\u201d an organisation was seeking to transfer ownership of the land from council, which had been \u201ca pretty good landowner\u201d.<\/p>\n
Addressing council at the end of debate, Ms Reynolds emphasised there would be a long consultation process before any handback was initiated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a useful discussion and I think what I\u2019m hearing is a lot of general support for this really important proposal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am concerned about how long this process will take.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the start of any journey you actually have to decide you\u2019re going to take that first step, and that requires us as the democratically elected leaders of the community, make an in principle decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outcome was welcomed by ALCT general manager Sarah Wilcox, who said it enabled the opportunity to create something \u201ctruly meaningful for Tasmania\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cReturning land is just the beginning. The real legacy lies in what we create together on Country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see an opportunity to create a nationally significant cultural destination that celebrates Palawa culture and history while delivering lasting benefits for the wider community, the visitor economy and the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important to understand that we would not be disturbing the natural values of the site. For Aboriginal people, the caring for and healing of country is our first priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
bridget.clarke@news.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is understood to be the first time a capital city has initiated a land return. It also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[401298,401369,401385,401364,401351,401303,382106,401374,401344,401339,401372,401376,401398,401320,401400,401321,401368,376730,401296,401375,401318,401352,389499,401313,401383,401396,401384,401335,395693,401366,401392,328965,401367,401312,401295,386610,401302,401343,382345,380625,401350,401345,401330,401346,64,63,401340,401319,401399,401382,2467,164395,4991,71300,26359,75,72098,401353,401380,401373,336679,401315,30263,401381,401397,18401,401377,5822,401297,71165,38063,401362,44825,401347,401390,225941,13052,89913,401348,401365,401391,401314,401308,401323,401361,392090,401337,401299,37166,401379,401326,376472,401336,317431,401357,401358,53134,401328,225942,128,401305,109384,2801,401327,401349,401363,401342,377055,401309,401359,380572,387211,378533,401317,401394,215379,401331,51849,401393,382541,401304,401300,376549,386609,401341,401355,379036,401370,401360,401387,401388,401329,401306,378709,401378,401371,380430,386766,127376,401354,401356,401395,401301,378887,401338,376950,401310,401332,401316,401307,401325,401389,386818,401322,380550,401334,401386,401324,64631,24080,25224,387364,401333,100428,401311,370044],"class_list":["post-827938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ms-elliot","tag-s-aboriginal-community","tag-s-aboriginal-culture-and-connection","tag-s-aim","tag-s-ceo","tag-s-council-meeting-ben-lohberger","tag-s-decision","tag-s-meeting","tag-s-outcome","tag-s-support","tag-4-9ha","tag-a-truce","tag-a-capital-city","tag-a-historic-first","tag-a-land-handback","tag-a-land-return","tag-a-long-consultation-process","tag-a-lot","tag-a-nationally-and-locally-significant-indication","tag-a-nationally-significant-cultural-destination","tag-a-practical-step","tag-a-pretty-good-landowner","tag-a-reality","tag-a-separate-council-decision","tag-a-separate-council-vote","tag-a-significant-milestone","tag-a-successful-vote","tag-a-useful-discussion","tag-a-warning","tag-a-willingness","tag-aboriginal-land-return","tag-aboriginal-people","tag-alct","tag-alct-general-manager-sarah-wilcox","tag-alderman-marti-zucco","tag-all-parties","tag-an-aboriginal-owned-and-operated-cultural-centre","tag-an-australian-capital-city","tag-an-opportunity","tag-an-organisation","tag-any-australian-capital-city","tag-any-future-land-transfer","tag-any-handback","tag-any-journey","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bill-harvey","tag-both-local-and-national-significance","tag-colonial-monuments-a-jibe","tag-community-input","tag-council","tag-council-land","tag-country","tag-debate","tag-decision","tag-environment","tag-favour","tag-five-hectares","tag-general-support","tag-good-will","tag-grassland","tag-groundbreaking-vote","tag-healing","tag-historic-land-handback-plan","tag-historic-significance","tag-hobart-city-council","tag-internal-discussions","tag-issue","tag-it-at","tag-john-kelly","tag-land","tag-lasting-benefits","tag-laughs","tag-lord-mayor-anna-reynolds","tag-louise-bloomfield","tag-louise-elliot","tag-monday","tag-motion","tag-mr-dutta","tag-mr-zucco","tag-ms-reynolds","tag-my-hope","tag-night-mr-coats","tag-nine-votes","tag-our-city-and-state","tag-our-country","tag-our-statues-and-placards","tag-our-willingness","tag-ownership","tag-palawa-culture-and-history","tag-politics-and-personalities","tag-principle","tag-principle-decision","tag-public-consultation","tag-queens-domain","tag-queens-domain-this","tag-reconciliation","tag-returning-land","tag-ryan-posselt","tag-science","tag-substantial-work","tag-supporters","tag-tasmania","tag-that-first-step","tag-the-ever-so-rude-constantly-greens","tag-the-aboriginal-community","tag-the-aboriginal-land-council","tag-the-beginning","tag-the-caring","tag-the-cart","tag-the-community","tag-the-council","tag-the-decision","tag-the-decision-making","tag-the-democratically-elected-leaders","tag-the-end","tag-the-enduring-connection","tag-the-environment","tag-the-establishment","tag-the-first","tag-the-first-aboriginal-land-return","tag-the-first-step","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-focus","tag-the-groundwork","tag-the-handback","tag-the-heart","tag-the-hobart-city-council","tag-the-horse","tag-the-land","tag-the-land-transfer","tag-the-mechanics","tag-the-most-important-things","tag-the-motion","tag-the-natural-values","tag-the-necessary-investigations","tag-the-opportunity","tag-the-outcome","tag-the-proposal","tag-the-public-gallery","tag-the-real-legacy","tag-the-recognition-and-celebration","tag-the-ship","tag-the-site","tag-the-site-any-future-decision","tag-the-start","tag-the-successful-motion","tag-the-tasmanian-aboriginal-community","tag-the-tasmanian-aboriginal-community-mr-lohberger","tag-the-tasmanian-aboriginal-people","tag-the-visitor-economy","tag-the-wider-community","tag-this-decision","tag-this-entire-term","tag-this-process","tag-this-proposal","tag-this-really-important-proposal","tag-this-strong-intention","tag-times","tag-today","tag-trust","tag-two-decades","tag-two-decades-lord-mayor-anna-reynolds","tag-vandalism","tag-will-coats","tag-zelinda-sherlock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}