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The Kimberley Land Council has admitted it does not know which Aboriginal people will now be entitled to grant Woodside permission to build its $30 billion Kimberley gas hub.

The Jabirr-Jabirr Goolarabooloo native title claim, which has been unresolved since 1994, this week collapsed due to divisions between local Indigenous groups over whether to approve the LNG precinct.

The State Government says it is relying on the land council to determine which traditional owners have the right to authorise access to the land at James Price Point.

Spokespeople for the groups have said they will be lodging rival claims over the crucial tract of land.

KLC spokesman Nolan Hunter says they are yet to decide who will sit on the negotiating committee.

“We are still reacting if you like, we are still trying to work out what the ramifications are. There are just too many things to consider. Until such time as we can work that out, it’s very hard for us to say anything with much conclusion.”

River Country Spirit Ceremonies have been held in Wilcannia and Menindee this week, by the Ngarrindjeri people, to dance back the spirit of the river and country.

About 500 people attended the ceremony in Wilcannia, while about 100 people turned out in Menindee.

A Ngarrindjeri elder, Major Sumner, says the ceremonies will now continue down the Darling River into the Murray.

He says it is very important for non-Indigenous, as well as Indigenous people, to attend the ceremonies.

“That way they’re learning about the culture, they’re learning about the land, they’re learning about us as Aboriginal people because you get people that … don’t know about us, they don’t know about our stories [and] they don’t know about the land,” he said.

A long-running legal battle involving one of Australia’s most renowned Aboriginal artists has continued in the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

The late Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s paintings are among the most sought-after in the country, with some selling for more than $1 million.

But since 1999, the Public Trustee of the Northern Territory, which is the administrator of the Kngwarreye estate, has been trying to resolve a copyright issue.

According to court documents, the case originally centred on about 900 of her paintings.

These were believed to be held by the Holt family, which owns a station next to Utopia, where the artist used to paint until she died in 1996.

Today, a directions hearing was held between the two parties in the Supreme Court, but details of what happened remain confidential.

Greens’ MP Robin Chapple is accusing the Western Australian Government of a lack of consultation with community groups over a proposed port development in the Pilbara.

Last month, the Government announced it would contribute $3.5 million for the port at Anketell Point, 30 kilometres north-east of Karratha.

Residents and Indigenous groups have expressed concerns about the impact of the port on recreational activity and the environment.

Mr Chapple says it was a rushed decision.

“The Government [is] handing over … $3 million to develop literally on a whim, without the consultation of the wider community, the Ngarluma [people] or indeed even the shire,” he said.

“[The project] is just rammed through and not engaged with the community in any way shape or form.”

The Government has indicated it will discuss the project with the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation.

Indigenous people are 15 to 20 times more likely to commit violent offences than non-Indigenous people according to research released today.

The Australian Institute of Criminology analysed police data from Western Australia and South Australia and national murder rates.

The Institute’s Director, Dr Adam Tomison says the study found violent offending is linked to illicit drug use, childhood violence, exposure to pornography and socioeconomic disadvantage.

But he says alcohol is by far the biggest cause of violent offending by indigenous people.

“Leaving aside all these issues of disadvantage, alcohol still comes up as a major factor for people committing crimes, violent crimes, that’s what we actually found ” Dr Tomison said.

“So there is a disadvantage issue but there is also, above and beyond that, whether you are disadvantaged or not … an alcohol issue. Alcohol is fuelling a lot of the crime.”

The new study also found Indigenous women are five times more likely to commit a violent offence than non-indigenous men.

“If you look at that data, what you find is Aboriginal females or Indigenous females are committing crimes 35 times more often than non-Indigenous females and five times more often than non-Indigenous males,” Dr Tomison said.

It is not yet clear what impact a formal split between Aboriginal groups will have on negotiations over Woodside’s planned $30 billion gas hub in the Kimberley.

The proposed site for the LNG precint is north of Broome at James Price Point.

The Jabirr-Jabirr and Goolarabooloo people have had a joint claim over the land at the Point since 1994.

But, yesterday the Jabirr-Jabirr families, who have generally been supportive of the gas hub project and its $2 billion compensation package, voted to break away and submit their own native title claim over the crucial plot of land.

There were tense scenes at yesterday’s vote, with some traditional owners being escorted out of the meeting by security guards.

Jabirr-Jabirr spokesman Frank Parriman says the original claim group had become too dysfunctional to continue.

“My understanding is that, well, we’re withdrawn so I don’t know the real legal ramifications for that claim but my guess it has to be withdrawn itself and everyone will have to lodge new claims.

Goolarabooloo spokesman Joseph Roe has launched legal action to block the negotiations with Woodside.

Mr Roe has lodged a writ in the Federal Court in a bid to have the negotiations over the LNG precinct deemed invalid.

He say their views have been ignored by the Kimberley Land Council which has been conducting the negotiations on behalf of traditional owners.

The KLC’s Nolan Hunter says the impact of the split will be minor.

“My understanding is that it won’t change what happens with the gas process.”

Woodside is expecting to sign a deal with traditional owners within two months.

Indigenous youths will gather in Queensland’s far north tomorrow for the region’s first Cairns Indigenous Youth Summit.

About 200 people aged 14 to 24 will take part in the two-day forum and will be able to talk to local leaders and politicians about issues concerning them.

Gurry Watson from the Nintiringanyi Cultural Training Centre says the forum will discuss issues including education, employment and crime.

“The aim of it is to have Indigenous youth have their opinion of what the issues that we face [are] and elaborate on why they think that’s the problem in the community and have these [opinions] told to the policymakers,” he said.

Mr Watson says the summit will identify key issues Indigenous people face.

“There’s a lot of positive young Indigenous people out there and that’s the thing that isn’t promoted,” he said.

“That’s something else we want to address too – having more positive comeback from Indigenous youth.”

An Education Queensland (EQ) document suggests the use of rocks and leaves to bring an Aboriginal perspective to maths lessons.

The maths plan, which is available online, also recommends exploring patterns and symbols as well as using timelines that include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history.

Earlier, a caller to ABC Local Radio in Brisbane claimed a year three teacher on the Gold Coast had been given a directive by her school principal to issue rocks and leaves to an Indigenous student as part of the EQ program.

The family member called to say the teacher was not told how to implement the new procedures and said the teacher was refusing to talk as she feared she would lose her job.

But curriculum authorities say it is up to teachers to decide the best way to educate students.

Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority spokesman Robert Randall says they are considering a nationwide integration of Aboriginal studies into English, maths, science and history.

He says at the end of the day, teachers will make the decision about whether to use certain methods.

“That’s some advice from EQ about some approaches to teaching and learning,” he said.

“Ultimately teachers will make judgments about the best teaching strategies they use in the classroom to meet the needs of children.

“How learning is organised within a school, within a classroom is a key professional role for teachers to take.”

EQ teacher Romany Rodgers, who is employed to help implement the document, has echoed Mr Randall’s views.

He says the example of teachers using leaves and rocks to help teach children to count must be used within context and in conjunction with other methods.

He says the document is not meant to be about stereotyping children.

“This sticks and stones example is tokenistic when on its own,” he said.

“I suppose if you were teaching year one… you can count sticks and stones, [it] might help engage them.”

Mr Rodgers says the document has been given to all classes, not just those with Aboriginal children.

“It should be across all classrooms. I certainly taught classes where there’s no Aboriginal children in the class,” he said.

He says there is no one particular way in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children learn.

“The curriculum is not dominated by this very small part of the curriculum,” he said.

Mr Randall says the draft curriculum will be released for review at the end of May, with the finalised version released to states and territories some time next year.

The traditional owners of the land chosen for the planned Kimberley gas hub have decided to split into two rival native title groups.

There were tense scenes at a meeting of the Jabirr-Jabirr Goolarabaloo claimant group, with some traditional owners escorted out by security guards and others subjected to shouting and jeering.

Jeffrey Foy says the Kimberley Land Council manipulated the door-lists to keep opponents of the gas hub out.

“It’s a scam, it’s wrong. People should listen to the people.”

Jabirr-Jabirr spokesman Frank Parriman says the split between supporters and opponents of the LNG project became too much.

“We had a very important meeting planned in regards to out native title claim,” he said.

“Regrettably the meeting didn’t go as well as we planned, and at the end of the the day the Jabirr-Jabirr people left the room, and had a separate meeting, and decided to withdraw from the current native title.”

The $30 billion gas plant depends on Woodside accessing land at James Price Point, just north of Broome.

The group has been negotiating with Woodside for over a year to try to strike a deal.

However divisions have formed between supporters and opponents of the project and today the Jabirr-Jabirr group voted to break away and submit its own claim over the land.

While a majority of the Jabirr-Jabirr people have voted to support the project, a breakaway group, headed by Joseph Roe, has started legal action to block it.

The group has lodged a writ in the Federal Court in a bid to have the negotiations over the LNG precinct deemed invalid.

They say their views have been ignored by the KLC.

The executive director of the Kimberley Land Council, Wayne Bergmann, says he is not concerned about the challenge.

“The KLC is absolutely confident that the process that we carried out is absolutely fair and transparent and will stand up.

“If this process isn’t fair and transparent then it would raise question with every native title agreement across the country.”

The KLC says the legal action will not prevent a deal being struck between traditional owners and Woodside to allow the project to go ahead.

Mr Bergmann says the entire process has been transparent.

“This legal challenge I think means nothing to what will happen at the end of this process.

Woodside is expecting to sign a deal with traditional owners within two months.

What the split means for the negotiation process remains unclear.

The River Country Spirit ceremony is making its way along the Darling and Murray rivers, to dance back the spirit of the river and country.

The Indigenous Ngarrindjeri people of the rivers will be at Crick Park in Menindee tonight, after performing a ceremony in Wilcannia last night.

The ceremony is aimed at restoring the environmental flows in the river system, because the lower lakes, Coorong and Murray mouths in South Australia are all in much need of water.

All non-Indigenous people are encouraged to attend.