Aboriginal people gain access to pastoral leases and a fund to purchase land with identified high cultural and natural values. The environmentalists gain protection for land with high natural values and sustainable management of pastoral properties throughout the Cape. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation provided Rick Farley as a facilitator for the negotiations leading to the agreement. Mr Farley says that resource industries, Aboriginal people and the environment movement are the three key stakeholders in land use in Australia. When you think about it, the land is all that we've really got.
Aboriginal people call the land 'mother' because it gives everything.
The Cape agreement shows that disparate groups can be brought together to agree on diverse land uses. The Heads of Agreement is only the first step towards a Regional Agreement as defined in the Commonwealth Native Title Act. It is not binding until individual parties on the ground, and a government, agree to sign. The signatories will be approaching their constituents to sign the agreement, which also will be put to the Queensland and Commonwealth governments for consideration. As it currently stands, the agreement does not cover all vital interests in the Cape.