| Native title | Native title myths |
Myth 1
"The Mabo decision means that my backyard isn't safe from an Aboriginal land claim."
Incorrect.
The High Court of Australia said that native title has been extinguished on all freehold and certainly the vast majority of leasehold land.
In its Mabo judgement the High Court set down the broad conditions on which land could be claimed under Mabo principles. For example, Aboriginal people cannot successfully claim land over which a freehold or leasehold interest has been granted. Further, to be successful, the native title claimants must have continuously maintained their traditional association with the land claimed.
Clearly, these conditions rule out any possibility that private land could be successfully claimed under Mabo.
Myth 2
"The Mabo decision allows Aboriginal people to gain ownership of Australia's farming and grazing land."
Incorrect.
Almost all farming and grazing land in Australia is held under freehold, perpetual leasehold or long-term leasehold titles.
As a result of the High Court's decision, these lands cannot be successfully claimed because the grant of these titles extinguished any native title.
There are some pastoral leases (in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia) which are subject to a ‘reservation’ in favour of Aboriginal people. These reservations entitle Aboriginal people traditionally associated with the particular lease to hunt and gather traditional foods and to have access to sacred sites. The presence of such reservations means that native title may co-exist with the pastoral lease, but it does not mean that a successful claim to ownership could be made over that leased area.
Myth 3
"The Mabo decision means that Aboriginal people will be given land for nothing while other Australians have to buy it."
Incorrect.
The Mabo decision does not mean that Aboriginal people are given any land, only that they may keep land that they already have and where their families have lived uninterrupted for tens of thousands of years. All Australians have the right to inherit property from their families.
Myth 4
"The Mabo decision allows Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people to claim sovereignty over parts of Australia."
Incorrect
The High Court said specifically that it would not hear any challenges to sovereignty. To suggest otherwise is to ignore the specific findings of the High Court.
Myth 5
"The Mabo decision will mean huge compensation payouts to Aboriginal people for the historical dispossession of all Aboriginal people from their land."
Incorrect
The High Court has said that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have no legal right to compensation for native title that was extinguished between 1788 and 1975 when the Racial Discrimination Act was enacted.
Myth 6
"The Mabo decision means that Aboriginal people will 'lock up' Australia's mineral wealth."
Incorrect
Goldfields Aboriginal people have continually stressed that they are not anti-mining. However, they do wish to protect sacred or significant sites that are a central and integral part of their spiritual beliefs. This they are doing (and were doing prior to the High Court’s Mabo judgement, under State legislation) through the heritage protection processes laid down by both the federal Native Title Act and Western Australia’s Mining Act.
Any fair-minded Australian would agree that Aboriginal people's spiritual beliefs should be accorded the same respect as the spiritual beliefs of other Australians.
Myth 7
"The claim of Aboriginal people to a special attachment to the land has no basis."
Incorrect
There is a vast and incontrovertible body of anthropological and other evidence recognising the existence of the special attachment of Aboriginal people to their land, including the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Woodward Aboriginal land Rights Commission.
The dispossession of Aboriginal people from their land has been identified by all political parties, as central to the social, economic and physical problems experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people since colonisation.
Additionally, the Australian Parliament unanimously supported the process of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia as a key national objective leading to the centenary of the Australian Federation in 2001. The Parliament unanimously supported the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act, 1991.
Myth 8
"The Mabo decision is all about guilt."
Incorrect
The Mabo decision has nothing to do with guilt and everything to do with justice. The High Court of Australia overturned the myth of terra nullius (that no people occupied Australia prior to the arrival of British settlers in 1788) and held that Australia's common law recognises a form of native title which survived European settlement.
Native title has also been recognised by other countries with similar legal systems to Australia, including the United States of America, Canada and New Zealand.