Maurie Keane lost his seat in the 1988 elections.  The new Liberal-National Coalition State Government, led by Mr Nick Greiner, wasted no time in fulfilling their election promise to dismantle land rights. The new government rejected the established social justice equity principles and cultural rationale for land rights in favour of equity and market participation. 

The ‘lawn mower affair’ came to light by the NSWALC finance officers when a purchase requisition order from a purchase order book that had formerly been reported stolen was used to purchase a ride-on lawn mover.  The use of the stolen purchase order, complete with the use of the name of an Aboriginal man and false signature was brought to the attention of the police and they arranged to be present when the lawn mover was collected by none other than the former Deputy Director.  He was subsequently charged with the fraud and stood down.  The Minutes of the Council meeting reveal a level of shock on the part of Councillors to the revelations of the corrupt conduct with one Councillor remarking that the Deputy Director was the ‘backbone’ of the organisation and others were keen to hear his side of the story (Keane 1991, p 2009).

Keane further notes in his diary attempted break-ins to NSWALC offices, including the former directors while staff were attending a Christmas party and attempted ‘jimmy’ of cabinet locks.

Another example cited in Keane’s diary, and also referred to by research participants was an assault on former Wiradjuri RALC representative, Robert Carroll.  Carroll spent several weeks on crutches after being brutally bashed by a man wielding a baseball bat.  The police charged a man from Bourke, but it was Carroll’s belief, as Keane recorded in his diary, that the attack was organised as ‘pay-back’ over decisions the Wiradjuri RALC had taken.  The assault on Carroll and his belief that the car and those involved hailed from a LALC in the Wiradjuri regional, highlights the spiralling crisis that gripped the land council network. These two events – the assault on Carroll and the corrupt conduct of the Deputy Director illustrate that the crisis in the land council network was occurring both across the networks and at senior levels of the state office.  The so-called ‘lawn mower’ affair coincided with growing community concern about the concentration of power in the state office and the emerging regulatory role of the state office over the activities of LALCs.  These revelations of corruption by very senior staff in the state office fuelled the sense of alarm, and undermined the authority of the state office to impose a regime of accountability across the LALC network.