Native title

Procedures involved

Overview

Making claim for native title is a complex process, with a rigorous registration test as the first hurdle to be overcome.

The Goldfields Land and Sea Council is the Federal Government-appointed representative body for native title in the Goldfields region. The GLSC has the job of ensuring that native title applications from within the region are properly prepared, thereby ensuring their orderly progression through the various processes required by the Native Title Act 1993.

If you are contemplating making a claim in the Goldfields you should contact the Goldfields Land and Sea Council’s Principal Legal Officer, Mr Ambrose Cummins, at the GLSC's Kalgoorlie offices on telephone number (08) 9091 1661.

The amendments to the Native Title Act 1993 significantly changed the procedures for applying for native title determinations. Some of the major changes include:

• Native title applications are now made to the Federal Court, instead of the National Native Title Tribunal;

• The ‘right to negotiate’ on pastoral leases and some other types of land tenures may have changed;

• Native title applicants are now required to pass a new, more rigorous registration test to gain the right to negotiate and other procedural rights;

• New state and territory equivalent bodies may assume any or all of the current responsibilities of the NNTT. These equivalent bodies require state or territory legislation and the approval of the Commonwealth Minister, before they can begin operating; and

• People making an application for a determination of native title are required to confirm that they have the authority of the people, clan or family for whom the application is made.
  
  Native title representative bodies, such as the Goldfields Land and Sea Council, have a new certifying role of confirming this authority.

Agreements between indigenous people and other people with rights and interests in land and waters, such as miners and mineral exploration companies, remain one of the most practical ways of dealing with native title issues.

The amended Native Title Act allows for indigenous land use agreements (ILUAs) to be registered with the National Native Title Tribunal, providing flexibility and increasing certainty as well as mechanisms for enforcement.

The Goldfields Land and Sea Council encourages the use of negotiated agreements, because they avoid the high legal costs, long delays and souring of relations between all parties which have characterised the alternative and potentially divisive process of proving native title in the courts.

The Goldfields Land and Sea Council has developed a proposal for regional agreements on prospecting and exploration in the Goldfields region, which has been outlined in a brochure titled ‘Progress through Cooperation'.