- 71 - The Yankunytjatjara Council was formed in February 1983 with the aim of establishing an organisation through which matters of importance for Yankunytjatjara people could be pursued.²⁹⁹ At that time, Yankunytjatjara people were concerned to prevent a proposed mining venture from being established on their traditional land. In subsequent years the organisation lay dormant for an extended period of time. It was revived, the Select Committee heard, in the late 1990s, in part, to fight for the due representation of Yankunytjatjara people on the Executive Board of Anangu Pitjantjatjara.³⁰⁰ In September 2002, the Select Committee received evidence from the Chairman of the Yankunytjatjara Council, Mr Yami Lester. At that time, Mr Lester estimated that the Yankunytjatjara Council represented some 100 Yankunytjatjara people and noted that the organisation was then involved in negotiations over a possible extension of the lease for the Mintabie Precious Stones Field. The Select Committee heard that lawyers and anthropologists from the Pitjantjatjara Council had been assisting the Yankunytjatjara Council in those negotiations.³⁰¹   At the time the Select Committee visited the AP Lands, there was a significant disagreement between the then Executive Board of Anangu Pitjantjatjara and the Yankunytjatjara Council as to the terms and conditions of any possible extension to the Mintabie lease.³⁰² One witness alleged that the Yankunytjatjara Council was “no longer fully representative of Yankunytjatjara People.”³⁰³ The Yankunytjatjara Council is involved in native title claims and Indigenous land management agreements for land outside of the AP Lands. In those matters, it receives assistance from the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement.³⁰⁴   Neither the Act nor the Constitution of Anangu Pitjantjatjara contain any references to the Yankunytjatjara Council. Much evidence and many submissions to the Select Committee spoke of the importance of formally recognising Yankunytjatjara people within the name of the body corporate and the title of the Act.³⁰⁵ (Recommendation 2a) Others argued that the Act should require the inclusion of Yankunytjatjara people on the Executive Board of Anangu Pitjantjatjara.³⁰⁶ The Yankunytjatjara Council is not currently involved in the provision of human services or infrastructure on the AP Lands.                                                   299 Submission 8: “Land – Let’s Get it Right” Special Edition Annual Report, 2001-2002, Pitjantjatjara Council, page 11. Also “Minutes of Meeting held at Mimili 15/2/83,” 1983, unpublished document. 300 Evidence Y Lester, 18 September 2002, Q635 & Q638-639. 301 Evidence Y Lester, 18 September 2002, Q626, Q636 & Q644. 302 Evidence N Bell, 26 September 2002, Q776-777; Submission 17: Y Lester. 303 Evidence R Connelly, 27 September 2002, Q828. 304 See Lester, Y. 2000, Hansard, Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund, Commonwealth of Australia, 17 April, NT822. 305 Evidence B Davis, 17 September 2002, Q310; E McNamara, 29 October 2002, Q883; K Davey, 29 October 2002, Q907. 306 Evidence R Connelly, 27 September 2002, Q828; Submission 27: Iwantja Community Inc.