Native Title Agencies Directory

The Indigenous Country & Governance Unit (ICG) of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies is responsible for conducting research and preparing resources for native title organisations, including prescribed bodies corporate (PBCs) and native title representative bodies and service providers (NTRB-SPs). The ICG maintains the ICG Website (nativetitle.org.au), which is a key resource for native title organisations and contains a wide variety of information on native title and related areas. The ICG also publishes a six-monthly native title newsletter, undertakes periodic surveys of PBCs, holds a range of workshops for people working within the native title space, and engages with native title organisations on a wide range of issues.

The National Native Title Tribunal (Tribunal) is established under the Native Title Act 1993 (NTA) to manage and hear various future act applications pertaining to mining. It may also be referred inquiries from the Federal Court or Minister, mediations from the Federal Court and conduct dispute resolution by request of representative bodies, RNTBCs or Common Law holders for certain purposes.

The Tribunal is assisted by a Registrar who has statutory functions under the NTA, including notification and registration testing of new and amended native title applications and ILUAS. The Registrar may also provide various types of assistance including with the preparation of applications and with geospatial analysis and mapping.

The Federal Court case manages and decides native title claims concerning the rights and interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to land and waters according to their traditional laws and customs, including determinations, revised native title determination applications, compensation applications, claim registration applications, applications to remove agreements from the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements and applications about the transfer of records. It also determines reviews or appeals from decisions of the National Native Title Tribunal. Finally the Court case manages and decides matters arising under or in relation to any Indigenous Land Use Agreement or other agreement made under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), or concerning a Prescribed Body Corporate (which holds or manages native title under the Act).

The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) is responsible for administering Part 11 of the Native Title Act 1993 (the Act). Part 11 contains funding arrangements for native title representative bodies and service providers (NTRBS-SPs) which perform functions under the Act delivering services to native title claimants and holders. The Minister for Indigenous Australians is responsible for recognising native title representative bodies under the Act. Native Title funding is part of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS). Another IAS grant specific to prescribed bodies corporate (PBCs) is the PBC Capacity Building Program. These grants are available to assist native title holding corporations to generate economic benefits through the effective and sustainable management of their lands.

The Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations is an independent statutory office holder appointed by the Minister for Indigenous Australians under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth) (CATSI Act).

The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) supports and regulates the corporations that are incorporated under the Act. It provides a tailored service that responds to the special needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and corporations, and strives for national and international best practice in corporate governance. It offers advice on how to incorporate, delivers training for directors, members and key staff in good corporate governance, makes sure corporations comply with the law, and intervenes when needed.

The Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department assists the Commonwealth Attorney-General to administer the Native Title Act. Responsibility for the Native Title Act is shared with the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the National Indigenous Australians Agency. While the Attorney-General's Department has no direct service-delivery functions, it plays an important role with respect to shaping native title policy within the Commonwealth Government. The Attorney-General's Department also manages and coordinates the Commonwealth's involvement in native title claims and litigation.