Nettheim, Garth --- "The Search for Certainty and the Native Title Amendment Act 1998 (Cth)" [1999] UNSWLawJl 7; (1999) 22(2) UNSW Law Journal 564

^[*] Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales. An earlier version of this paper was presented at The Australian Financial Review, Native Title: Industry Background Briefing, 26-7 November [1]998.

1 The NTA itself had a tortuous evolution, traced by T Rowse, “How we got a Native Title Act” in M Goot and T Rowse, Make a Better Offer. The Politics of Mabo, Pluto (1994) 111; H McRae, G Nettheim and L Beacroft, Indigenous Legal Issues. Commentary and Materials, LBC (2nd ed, 1997) p 219-33; F Brennan, One Land, One Nation. Mabo – Towards 2001, UQP (1995). For a concise account of the political processes that led, finally, to the enactment of the NTAA, see F Brennan, The Wik Debate: Its Impact on Aborigines, Pastoralists and Miners, UNSW Press (1998). For a detailed account of the evolution of the 1998 amendments, see P Burke, “Evaluating the Native Title Amendment Act 1998” [1998] AUIndigLawRpr 28; (1998) 3(3) Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 333.

[2] G Nettheim, “Native Title, Fictions and Convenient Falsehoods” in C Perrin (ed), In the Wake of Terra Nullius (1998) 4.1 Law. Text. Culture 70.

[3] Mabo v Queensland [No 2] [1992] HCA 23; (1992) 175 CLR 1.

[4] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Native Title Report: July 1994 – June 1995, 1995 at 155-74, especially 158.

[5] The Wik Peoples and Thayorre People v Queensland (1996) 187 CLR 1. The High Court held that pastoral leases under Queensland legislation did not necessarily extinguish native title but native title interests would have to yield to the rights of the pastoralist. For a similar decision in regard to pastoral leases in South Australia and Northern Territory, see Hayes v Northern Territory [1999] FCA 1248 (9 September 1999), per Olney J.

[6] G Nettheim, “Wik: On Invasions, Legal Fictions, Myths and Rational Responses” [1997] UNSWLawJl 9; (1997) 20 UNSWLJ 495-501; G Nettheim, “Responding to Wik: First, Define the Problem” [1997] IndigLawB 32; (1997) 4(1) Indigenous Law Bulletin 14.

[7] Fejo and Mills v Northern Territory of Australia and Oilnet (NT) Pty Ltd [1998] HCA 58; (1998) 156 ALR 721. The decision seems contrary to North American jurisprudence. See K McNeil “Racial Discrimination and Unilateral Extinguishment of Native Title” (1996) 1 Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 181; “Co-Existence of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Land Rights: Australia and Canada Compared in Light of The Wik Decision” [1997] IndigLawB 77; (1997) 4(5) Indigenous Law Bulletin 4; “Extinguishment of Native Title: The High Court and American Law” (1997) 2 Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 365. And see Delgamuukw v British Columbia (1998) 3 Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 35.

[8] North Ganalanja Aboriginal Corporation v Queensland (1995-96) 185 CLR 595.

[9] Note 3 supra at 68 and 72-3; Wik Peoples case, note 5 supra at 88-94.

[10] Wik Peoples case, note 5 supra at 127-9, per Toohey J; at 155-6, per Gaudron J; at 186-90, per Gummow J; at 233-5, per Kirby J.

[11] ATSIC, Native Title Amendment Bill 1997 – Issues for Indigenous Peoples, October 1997 at 45-6.

[12] The latter date was selected to accommodate the expansion of permissible uses of such lands under the Land Administration Act 1998 (WA).

[13] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Review of Native Title Representative Bodies, 1995.

[14] ATSIC Information Paper, Implementation of New Legislative Provisions Relating to Native Title Representative Bodies, November 1998; L Strelein, “Moving the Boundaries: Native Title Representative Bodies and the Recognition Process” [1999] IndigLawB 54; (1999) 4(22) Indigenous Law Bulletin 12.

[15] Mary Yarmirr v Northern Territory [1998] FCA 771; (1998) 156 ALR 370. See GD Meyers, M O’Dell, G Wright, SC Muller, A Sea Change in Land Rights Law: The Extension of Native Title to Australia’s Offshore Areas, AIATSIS (1996).

[16] Mason v Tritton (1994) 34 NSWLR 572; Derschaw v Sutton (1997) 17 WAR 419, 2(1) AILR 53; Dillon v Davies (unreported, SC Tas, Underwood J, 20 May 1998).

[17] GD Meyers, CM Piper, HM Rumley, “Asking the Minerals Question: Rights in Minerals as an Incident of Native Title” (1997) 2(2) AILR 203. And see Ben Ward and Others on Behalf of the Miriuwung and Gajerrong Peoples v Western Australia (unreported, FCA, Lee J, 24 November 1998).

[18] K McNeil, Common Law Aboriginal Title, Oxford (1989).

[19] Note 3 supra at 206-14. See G Nettheim, “Judicial Revolution or Cautious Correction?” [1993] UNSWLawJl 2; (1993) 16 UNSWLJ 1 at 12–16.

[20] Guerin v The Queen (1984) 13 DLR (4th) 321. And see C Hughes “The Fiduciary Obligations of the Crown to Aborigines: Lessons from the United States and Canada” [1993] UNSWLawJl 6; (1993) 16 UNSWLJ 70.

[21] Wik Peoples case, note 5 supra at 98-100, per Brennan CJ; at 100, per Dawson J; at 131, per Toohey J; at 135, per Gaudron J; at 167, per McHugh J; at 251-61, per Kirby J. For discussion and additional references, see H McRae, G Nettheim, L Beacroft, note 1 supra, pp 295-7.

[22] Kartinyeri v Commonwealth [1998] HCA 22; (1998) 152 ALR 540; 72 ALJR 722.

[23] Tenth Report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund, October 1997.

[24] Note 3 supra; Western Australia v Commonwealth [1995] HCA 47; (1995) 183 CLR 373.

[25] G Nettheim, “The International Implications of the Native Title Act Amendments” [1998] IndigLawB 16; (1998) 4(9) Indigenous Law Bulletin 12.

[26] CERD/C/53/Misc.17/Rev 2. See Australian Government Response to the United Nations Committee on Racial Discrimination Request for Information Under Article 9 Paragraph 1 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (January 1999); Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Australia’s Obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ATSIC (February 1999); Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Decision on Australia CERD/C/54/ Misc40/Rev (18 March 1999); [1999] AUIndigLawRpr 21; (1999) 4(2) Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 134; D Dick and M Donaldson, Issues Paper No 29, The Compatibility of the Amended Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) with the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Native Title Research Unit, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (August 1999).

[27] National Native Title Tribunal, 1997/98 Annual Report, 1998 at 41.