Native title: beyond the backyards and beaches

• Larissa Behrendt
• New Matilda

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10 October 2006The recent Federal Court’s decision about the Perth area is not a groundbreaking legal precedent; it is the simple application of existing law to the facts that were presented during the case. Justice Wilcox seems to have understood how controversial his decision was going to be. In his judgment he deliberately makes clear that he is applying the same law that has been used in all native title cases and not making up anything new. And that law says that the Aboriginal people have to show that they have a continuing connection to land. What he says in his decision is that the facts – yes, the facts – showed that this connection does exist and is ongoing.