This Discussion Paper arises from a concern that the current contributions of anthropology in the Australian native title arena are often unnecessarily confined to the production of expert reports and other materials, in accordance with legal briefs and criteria established under native title law.

This paper considers this ‘next level’. What happens after the native title rights are recognised?

This research brief provides an overview of the background to the Traditional Owner Settlement Bill (2010), an outline of the main provisions of the Bill, stakeholder responses, and policy positions in other jurisdictions.

This analysis of three native title agreements is primarily based on observations made at a two-day workshop which aimed to gain firsthand accounts of the role of comprehensive settlements in progressing Indigenous and government aspirations for native title and to identify possible benchmarks for such settlements.

With most of the apprehension, uncertainty and fear that was associated initially with native title has dissipated, this paper examines the areas in which the legislation and native title processes could be improved.