Northern Territory Consolidated Acts

PARKS AND RESERVES (FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUTURE) ACT - SECT 9

(1) Park freehold title is an estate in fee simple granted over land that is a park or reserve.

(2) The following applies in relation to the estate in fee simple:

(a) the estate can only be granted to a Park Land Trust in trust for the benefit of Aboriginals entitled by Aboriginal tradition to the use or occupation of the land, whether or not the traditional entitlement is qualified as to place, time, circumstance, purpose or permission;

(b) the estate is granted subject to any native title rights and interests in the land but free of all other estates and interests in that land;

(c) the estate cannot be sold and can only be transferred to another Park Land Trust in trust for the benefit of the Aboriginals referred to in paragraph (a);

(d) the estate cannot be mortgaged or otherwise encumbered;

(e) subject to the joint management agreement for the park or reserve, the estate can be leased or sub-leased and the resulting leasehold or sub-leasehold interest can be mortgaged;

(f) the estate may, with the agreement of the Territory, be surrendered (in whole or in part) to the Territory -

(i) so that the whole or part of the land can be used by the Territory otherwise than as a park or reserve; or

(ii) to facilitate the grant of the whole or part of the land to the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land so it can be used by those traditional Aboriginal owners for a specified purpose;

(g) the estate can only be compulsorily acquired under the Lands Acquisition Act for a public purpose that -

(i) will confer a right or interest on the Territory; or

(ii) is an infrastructure facility;

(h) if the estate is compulsorily acquired under the Lands Acquisition Act , the compensation payable for the acquisition is to be determined as if the estate is an estate in fee simple free of the restrictions and conditions specified in paragraphs (a) to (g) (inclusive).

(3) The Chief Minister may, by notice in the Gazette , establish a body corporate (to be known as a Park Land Trust), subject to the conditions (if any) specified in the notice, for the purpose of holding park freehold title in trust for the benefit of Aboriginals entitled by Aboriginal tradition to the use or occupation of the land over which the park freehold title is granted, whether or not the traditional entitlement is qualified as to place, time, circumstance, purpose or permission.

(4) A Park Land Trust -

(a) is a body corporate with perpetual succession;

(b) must have a common seal; and

(c) is capable, in its corporate name, of suing and being sued.

(5) All courts, judges and persons acting judicially must take judicial notice of the common seal of a Park Land Trust and must presume it was duly affixed.

(6) A Park Land Trust has the following functions:

(a) to hold park freehold title;

(b) to enter into agreements relating to the park freehold title held by the Trust.

(7) A Park Land Trust has the powers that are necessary or convenient for the performance of its functions.

(8) The Regulations may provide for -

(a) the membership of a Park Land Trust;

(b) the procedures of a Park Land Trust; or

(c) any other matter relating to the administration of a Park Land Trust.

(8A) Despite subsections (4), (6) and (7), the Regulations may limit the powers of a Park Land Trust.

(9) Sections 9(1) and 10(1) and (2) of the Crown Lands Act apply in relation to the grant of park freehold title as if -

(a) a reference to the Minister were a reference to the Chief Minister;

(b) a reference to an estate in fee simple were a reference to park freehold title; and

(c) a reference to a person who has a right to be granted an estate in fee simple were a reference to a Park Land Trust to which park freehold title is to be granted,

but this subsection does not require compliance with any other provision of the Crown Lands Act before park freehold title is granted.