Throughout Australia the native title claims of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are resolved primarily through negotiated consent determinations, whereby the court recognises native title following the agreement of the parties, rather than through contested litigation. Negotiations leading up to a consent determination often raise two separate legal questions: firstly, is the claimants’ case...

Despite significant advancements in the legal framework for Native Title and stated commitments to corporate social responsibility towards local Indigenous populations, this study suggests that Indigenous communities leveraged minimal benefits from the mining boom in terms of employment opportunity.

This report reviews developments in native title law and policy from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012. Chapter 1 examines the enjoyment and exercise of human rights by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in light of changes to policy and legislation made during the reporting period. Chapter 2 examines how Indigenous governance over...

In Australia the focus of the public policy debate on land rights has shifted from the struggle of Indigenous peoples to have their pre-colonial possession of land recognised to how reinstated rights and interests in land might be exercised to fulfil Indigenous peoples’ own aspirations, including for economic development and home ownership.

This paper seeks to reanalyse the Mabo case from the point of view of non-discrimination. It argues that the Mabo judgment may have been discriminatory in finding that pre-existing entitlements in surviving native title are restricted to the limited range of activities that can be proven by reference to traditional law and custom and that...