The mayor of Indigenous community Woorabinda in central Queensland is pushing for their land to be converted from a government lease to freehold, and claims it's like still living on a mission’.
Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council Mayor Cheyne Wilkie says little has changed as the land is still a reserve and residents can’t own land or by a house.
"But as the mayor of the Woorabinda Shire Council, I need to start asking the questions of when they will release us from the shackles and chains,” Mr Wilkie said.
Woorabinda is under a Deed of Grant In Trust, a community-level trust set up by the State Government to administer former reserves and missions, and most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities come under this.