Bid to make Metro land council solvent

The Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Paul Lynch, said retaining the board, a first for the land council system, was intended to break a cycle of land council sackings that prevented them from developing their governance and financial management capacity.

He said a six-month State Government investigation found financial mismanagement at the council but no evidence of the corruption and fraud alleged by some members.

The allegations are understood to be part of the continuing fallout from a bitter factional battle for control of "Metro", as it is called, in 2003.

The council reportedly controls more than $60 million worth of land in the Sydney metropolitan region and is the biggest landowner in Warringah Shire, due to land claims made under laws designed to compensate Aboriginal people for white settlement.

But after selling land to pay its debts in the past, several of its development joint ventures have now stalled, including one at Lizard Rock in Belrose, leaving it with little income.

Metro has 500 members. Its board includes Redfern Aboriginal community leaders Rob Welsh, Charles "Chicka" Madden and Ricky Lyons.

The State Government's investigator found Metro had not kept satisfactory financial records and that its expenditure had exceeded its income for too long, its chairman, Rob Welsh, wrote in a letter to members.

The Government has appointed a Deloitte partner, David Lombe, for six months to improve the council's financial systems and corporate governance and to develop a detailed financial plan.

But the board will continue to be able to make land claims and perform community roles including managing Aboriginal housing, welcoming people to the country, protecting sacred sites, repatriating Aboriginal remains and campaigning against family violence.

Mr Lynch said the administrator would establish the extent of Metro's debt.