Bagot community takes on Tollner

Up to 200 Bagot community residents and supporters rallied outside CLP MLA Dave Tollner’s office on August 16, in anger over his plans to ‘normalise’ their home.

In June, Tollner, the incumbent for Fong Lim in the August 25 territory election, released a “Special Ludmilla edition” of his Tollner Telegraph, which said “Both the Country Liberals and Territory Labor have committed to normalising Bagot and turning it into one of Darwin’s newest suburbs”. The CLP plans to encourage long-term Bagot residents to buy their own homes: those that refuse will have their homes handed over to Territory Housing.

Bagot Council currently holds the lease for the land at Bagot, and the housing is managed by the  Yilli Rreung Housing Association. Tollner hasn’t explained how his plan would effect the leasing arrangement, or what would happen to Yilli Rreung. In fact, he hasn’t spoken to the community about his plans at all, which is why the community attempted to come to him.

This isn’t the first attack Tollner has launched on Darwin’s unique town communities. In May, he called for One Mile Dam to be closed down. ABC Online reported on May 3 that Tollner said “"Every feral across Darwin sort of bases themselves at One Mile Dam ... It is just full of filth and disease, and degradation."

Tollner wasn’t in when  the Bagot crowd gathered at his office, his secretary announced he was “out in the electorate speaking to constituents”. But that didn’t stop people making their feelings about his announcements clear.

Holding placards that read “Normalise – please explain”,  “I love Bagot” and “Bagot Community, our past, present and future”, the fiery crowd took turns to speak about the importance of Bagot, and their outrage at Tollner’s presumptuousness.

Bagot Council president Helen Fejo-Frith told the crowd: “This is about saving our home. Our children were born here, their parents were born here ... We’ll still be her when [Tollner] is gone. Politicians  come and go. They call us  itinerants – but they’re the itinerants.”

The council has collaborated with Yilli Rreung and the University of Melbourne to create a Bagot Village Development Plan, which is already in the early stages of development. Fejo-Frith had hoped to present the plan to Tollner, to show that the community had its own ideas.

Larrakia musician Ali Mills referred to Australian governments’ long history of moving  Aboriginal people around; Bagot was originally a residential facility for Stolen Generations children. “How long is the government going to keep moving us mob on for?” she demanded.

Sheila White is a young woman who was born and raised in Bagot. Addressing the absent Tollner, she said: “You mob should be celebrating us [town communities]! We are unique. Where else in Australia do we have special places  where our people can gather together, yarn, celebrate? We’re going to be here for a long time yet!”

Bagot residents were encouraged to sign a petition demanding that Bagot remain a community and not  be re-zoned. The petition calls on the local member to support Bagot to keep the land, govern itself and build a stronger, healthier community.

Representatives from the progressive parties running in the territory elections  - the Greens, First Nations Political Party and Sex Party -  and progressive independents were also there to show their support.