It is being claimed that the Queensland government is hiring someone to transfer private land to Indigenous people as part of the proposed voice to parliament.
This is false. The advertised role is not new and has no connection to the proposed Indigenous advisory body.
The Facebook video (archived here) features someone scrolling through a job advert for a senior land officer on the Queensland government website.
“Australia: government is now offering to pay people over $100,000 a year to transfer land into the hands of what they call First Nations people to the benefit of government and council social programs,” the male voiceover says.
“You will be part of a team that enables a broad range of social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits to Queenslanders, from enabling councils to provide key infrastructure projects to community, to the transfer of land to our First Nations people.
“The voice to parliament – sounds more like constitutional segregation and theft every day. Can someone please disprove this?”
The video’s caption also reads: “Your properties could be transferred to ‘first nation people’.”
The job listing (archived here) was from the state government’s Department of Resources. The application closed on June 15, 2023.
The advert is for a full-time role with the government, which oversees 60 per cent of the state’s land.
It adds that the wider team’s responsibilities include working with councils to provide key infrastructure, facilitating leases for tourism and agriculture and transferring of land to First Nations people.
But rather than being a new role, the government’s Department of Resources said land officers had been employed since Queensland became a state in 1859.
A department representative added: “A land officer is an administrative position and does not have the power to confiscate or redistribute land.
“The Voice Referendum is related to amending the Australian Constitution and has no impact on land administration in Queensland.”
The proposed constitutional amendment makes clear the voice would be an advisory body, providing representations to the parliament and executive on matters relating to Indigenous people.
As explained several times by AAP FactCheck, the voice has no power over the distribution or ownership of lands and property, see here, here and here.
The video’s caption that “your properties” could be transferred is also false as private land ownership is protected under native title law.
The Verdict
The claim that a recently created government position will help transfer land to Indigenous peoples as part of the proposed voice to parliament is false.
The advertised role is not new and has no connection to the proposed Indigenous advisory body.
The proposed constitutional amendment makes clear the voice would have no power over the distribution of lands or property.
False – the claim is inaccurate.
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