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	Aboriginal Law Bulletin

Ngurrdalingi Aboriginal Corporation v Katherine Town Council

Local Government Tribunal

Local Court, Northern Territory

13 December 1991

Casenote by Michael Hanna

Section 97(1)(d) of the Local Government Act (NT) exempts from rates, land used or occupied by a 'public benevolent institution' or 'public charity'.

The land in this case was owned by Ngurrdalingi Aboriginal Corporation and during the year in question (1990-91) was occupied by four organisations:

• Ngurrdalingi - a resource centre serving Aboriginal communities in the Mataranka region with housing, transport, liaison with government agencies concerning essential services, etc;

• Katherine Regional Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (KRALAS);

• an unincorporated group of persons who conducted a DEET training program to reduce unemployment and;

• Yulgnu Association - an inactive organisation which used the land merely as an address for location of its public officer and formal documents.

Mr. A. Gillies, SM., sitting as the Local Government Tribunal, found that Ngurrdalingi, KRALAS, and the training group, each satisfied the common law definition of public benevolent institution - that is, "a body organised for the relief of poverty, sickness, destitution or helplessness, which gives relief freely to those in need of it and unable to care for themselves."