Native Title Laws To Be Overhauled
Thursday 7 June 2012 @ 10.05 a.m. | Legal Research
The Federal Government has proposed changes aimed at revamping native title law.
According to Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, the changes will see a strengthening of the requirements for good faith negotiations on native title claims, and hopefully streamline the process.
Some Indigenous leaders, politicians and legal personalities have called for a reversal of the onus of proof on traditional owners to demonstrate a continuing link to the land. This would see respondents needing to prove a disconnection from the land in order to challenge claims. However, the Federal Government has stopped short of this, instead focusing on “incremental but significant changes.”
The National Farmers’ Federation has reacted cautiously to the announcement, saying that it would need to see further details to assess how pastoralists might be affected.
The mining industry, though, has welcomed the changes. Minerals Council CEO Mitch Hooke has said that the process will hopefully clarify the way in which Native Title laws are supposed to work without undermining Indigenous land rights.
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