Bagot community changes could go to court  Posted August 03,
2012 13:51:24  The Country Liberals' plan to redevelop Darwin's
Bagot community will probably result in a court challenge and
compensation, a lawyer says.  Bagot is Darwin's largest
Indigenous community and the Country Liberals want to turn it
into a suburb where anyone can buy a home.  The party says it
will have to change the lease arrangements for the land.  But
barrister Lex Silvester says that would be legally difficult.
He says even if it did happen, payouts would follow.  "I would
imagine there would be a very large amount of compensation to
pay to the Bagot community," he said.  Treasurer Delia Lawrie
agrees.  "Enormous amounts of money would have to be paid and
you'd be caught up in the courts for years," she said.  The
Opposition's Dave Tollner says he cannot see why his proposal
would face any legal challenge.  Topics: urban-development-and-
planning, indigenous-policy, bagot-0820, darwin-0800