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| squatting (Australian context) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Squatting (Australian context) |
| Location | Australia |
squatting (Australian context)
Squatting in Australia refers to the informal occupation of land or buildings without the legal right to do so, encompassing historical pastoral expansion, urban occupations, and contemporary protest uses. The practice intersects with colonial settlement, property law, Indigenous dispossession, urban social movements, and public policy debates in jurisdictions such as New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory. Key actors include pastoralists, settlers, Indigenous communities, housing activists, legal institutions, and political parties.
Squatting traces to the early 19th century when overlanders and pastoralists bypassed the regulated colonial land grant systems to occupy lands beyond the limits of settlement, involving figures connected to the Port Phillip District, Van Diemen's Land, New South Wales, and later the Colony of Victoria and Colony of Queensland. Prominent colonial individuals and families, including connections to the Pastoralists' Association of West Gippsland and influential magistrates, leveraged informal occupation into large pastoral runs later regularised through licences and leases under statutes such as the Crown Lands Act 1869 (NSW) and the Land Act 1869 (Victoria). Squatting was intimately tied to the dispossession of Aboriginal nations such as the Gunditjmara people, Wiradjuri people, Yorta Yorta people, and Kaurna people, and intersected with events including frontier conflicts like the Black War and the Eumeralla Wars. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw consolidation of pastoral empires held by families and companies that interfaced with institutions such as the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia and political actors including the Australian Natives' Association and early state parliaments.
Contemporary legal responses are framed by state and territory statutes, case law from courts including the High Court of Australia, and administrative regimes such as land titling overseen by agencies like Lands and Surveys (Western Australia) and land registries in Land Victoria. Colonial-era statutes, Crown lease systems, and statutory concepts such as adverse possession have been contested through litigation in courts including the Supreme Court of New South Wales and decisions referencing the Mabo v Queensland (No 2) judgment and native title principles under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). Legislation addressing trespass and property offences includes state summary offences codes and civil remedies administered in tribunals such as the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Planning instruments like the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) and municipal by-laws have shaped responses to urban occupation, while inquiries by bodies such as the Australian Law Reform Commission have examined land tenure issues.
Forms of squatting have ranged from 19th-century pastoral illegal occupation on runs and stations to 20th- and 21st-century urban house occupations, migrant encampments, and protest camps. Historical pastoral squatters established homesteads on properties like the Macarthur family holdings and large runs associated with figures in the Squattocracy of colonial elites. Urban practices include occupations linked to activist networks such as Squatters' Action Council-style groups, anarchist collectives, faith-based homelessness services collaborating with organisations like the St Vincent de Paul Society, and university and student occupations involving organisations such as the National Union of Students (Australia). Protest encampments have occurred at sites tied to environmental campaigns involving groups like the Tasmanian Wilderness Society and the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation in disputes over mining and development.
Squatting has been central to social movements including workers' and tenants' rights campaigns, Indigenous land rights, environmental activism, and anti-globalisation protests. Indigenous activism visible in events associated with organisations such as the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and campaigns involving the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Australian Greens intersects with occupations and direct action. Housing movements have connected with unions like the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and community groups such as the Tenants' Union of NSW and the Council to Homeless Persons, while student and left-wing networks include the Socialist Alternative and groups formerly allied with the Trade Unionist Movement.
Notable historical squatting events include the expansion of pastoral runs linked to properties like Errinundra Station and large estates associated with families who influenced colonial parliaments. Modern high-profile occupations have included the 1970s and 1980s inner-city squats in suburbs such as Newtown, New South Wales, Fitzroy, Victoria, and North Melbourne, activist-led protests like the 1990s anti-logging camps in Gunns Limited conflict zones and the 2000s protest camps against development near sites such as Franklin River and disputed mining leases involving companies like Rio Tinto and BHP. The establishment and symbolic presence of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy remains a seminal occupation influencing later protest encampments and land rights actions.
Squatting has produced legal, economic, social, and environmental impacts, prompting responses from courts, legislatures, police forces such as various state police services, and land management agencies including state departments of environment and planning. Responses have ranged from negotiated regularisation, lease conversions, enforcement evictions carried out with orders from courts like the Federal Court of Australia, to policy reforms addressing homelessness advanced through agencies such as the Department of Social Services (Australia). Public debate has involved media outlets including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and newspapers historically like The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and policymaking by state premiers and local councils exemplified by interventions in City of Melbourne and City of Sydney precincts.
Current debates engage housing affordability crises, Indigenous sovereignty and native title disputes, environmental campaigning versus resource extraction involving companies like Glencore and policy frameworks under federal instruments such as the Commonwealth Native Title Act. Policy options under discussion involve reforms to land taxation, public housing delivered by agencies including state housing authorities, eviction process safeguards in tribunals such as the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and tensions between policing priorities in capital cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. Advocacy by organisations such as the Australian Council of Social Service and research from institutions like the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute informs legislative and administrative choices, while high-profile legal cases continue to refine the interplay between adverse possession principles, native title determinations, and statutory trespass law adjudicated by the High Court of Australia.
Category:Land tenure in Australia