The NLC is primarily funded through the Aboriginals Benefit Account (ABA), an account into which the Australian Government pays an amount of money equal to the royalties paid from mining on Aboriginal land.

These payments are made on an estimates and justification basis.

The NLC is also a Native Title Representative Body under the Native Title Act 1993 and receives funding for native title matters.

In addition to its core funding under the ABA and the Native Title Act, the NLC receives funding under a number of separate grants.

The NLC is required to prepare audited financial statements for two separate accounting entities under two acts of the Commonwealth Parliament – the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (ALRA) and the Native Title Act. The NLC’s auditor is the Australian National Audit Office.

Financial statements that apply for the reporting period have been prepared in accordance with the Finance Minister’s Orders and Australian Accounting Standards and Interpretations issued by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB).

The full audited statements are reproduced from page 199.

External Funding

NLC receives additional grant-based funding from a number of sources. The major external funding sources include:

• Working on Country funding for ranger groups – Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
• Real Jobs funding for ranger groups – Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC).

Compliance Summary

As a Commonwealth Authority, the NLC is subject to annual reporting orders issued by the Finance Minister under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA), which stipulates that the NLC recover costs regarding the provision of products or services where it is efficient to do so.

Fees

In accordance with subsection 37(2) of the ALRA, fees received for services by the NLC can be found at page 271.