Resources and publications
Title | Author /s | Summary | Date | Tag(s) | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Against Native Title | Dr Eve Vincent | 'Against native title' is about a divisive native title claim in the town of Ceduna where the claims process has thoroughly reorganised local Aboriginal identities over the course of the past decade. The central character in this story is senior Aboriginal woman Sue Haseldine, who, with her extended family, have experienced native title as an unwelcome imposition: something that has emanated from the state and out of which they gained only enemies. But this is not simply a tale of conflict. Threaded throughout is the story of a twice-yearly event called 'rockhole recovery'; trips that involve numerous days of four-wheel drive travel to a series of permanent water sources and Dreaming sites. Through rockhole recovery Sue Haseldine and her family continue to care for, and maintain connections to country, outside of the native title process. This is a vivacious and very human story, which pursues a controversial and much neglected line of enquiry in which native title is not necessarily seen as a force for recognition and Indigenous empowerment. To purchase this resource from the AIATSIS shop please follow this link. |
Dispute management, Native Title Act | Book | |
Authorisation and decision-making in native title | Nick Duff | Native title involves an interface between the Australian legal system and Indigenous legal, cultural and political systems. The assertion and management of native title rights involves collective action by sometimes large and disparate groups of Indigenous people. Contentious politics makes such collective action difficult and the courts will often be asked to decide whether group decisions have been validly made. In the last two decades a vast and complex body of law and practice has developed to address this challenge. Authorisation law is a set of principles about how the views and intentions of native title claimants or holders are translated into legally effective decisions. This book sets out the legal rules and their application in various situations: native title claims, native title agreement-making, decision-making by native title corporations, and compensation applications. It also addresses key practical, ethical and political dimensions of native title decision-making. This book will be useful for native title practitioners including lawyers, judges and native title holders. It will also be relevant to academic research into the ethical, political and anthropological dimensions of Indigenous governance. |
Decision making, ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement), Native Title Act, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Book | |
In the Native Title 'hot tub': expert conferences and concurrent expert evidence in Native Title | Vance Hughston, Tina Jowett | In the Native Title ‘hot tub’ outlines the history and development of expert conferencing and expert concurrent evidence in Australia, including in the Federal Court. These approaches to expert evidence are a major development of the last decade, greatly reducing the hearing time of Native Title proceedings and the costs to the parties involved. The authors explore how expert conferences and concurrent evidence can narrow the issues in the Native Title claims of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, discussing in particular their experiences in four recent cases. |
AIATSIS, Finance, Native Title Act | Article / paper | |
Indigenous data sovereignty | Australian Indigenous Governance Institute | This briefing paper provides general information on the 2018 Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit is a collaboration between the Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network and the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute. |
Data sovereignty, Indigenous knowledge | Article / paper | |
Living with native title: the experiences of registered native title corporations | Toni Bauman, Lisa M Strelein, Jessica K Weir | Much of the attention paid to native title in Australia has focused on court proceedings and other legalities, but what does it actually mean to live with native title? This book presents the experiences of native title holders and the corporations they have established to look after their native title interests. The influence of the renowned High Court Mabo case is such that there are already more than 100 Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate (RNTBCs) across Australia with responsibilities for about 18 per cent of the continent. RNTBCs operate in a profoundly intercultural context where ‘western’ and Indigenous laws are constantly interpreted and negotiated as part of a new suite of landholding and land management practices for contemporary Australia. Through seven case studies from the Torres Strait, Far North Queensland, the Kimberley and Central Australia, Living with native title documents the experiences of RNTBCs, including those that are parties to large mining agreements. Each case study is accompanied by a short update written immediately prior to publication. Living with native title is a product of the AIATSIS research project Prescribed Bodies Corporate: Research Action Partnerships. |
Agreements, AIATSIS, Future acts, ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement), Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous law, Joint Management, Native Title Act, NTRB (Native Title Representative Body), Partnerships | Book | |
Native title and commercial fisheries: the Torres Strait sea claim | Gabrielle Lauder, Lisa Strelein | For native title holders, the ability to exercise native title rights for commercial purposes is crucial to full and meaningful participation in the social, cultural and economic life of Australia. This article examines the extent to which native title gives its holders the power to manage resources, govern their use and exploit them commercially. |
AUSTLII, Fishing, Native Title Act, Water rights | Article / paper | |
Native Title and Tax: Understanding the Issues | Miranda Stewart | Outlines the treatment of income tax under native title agreements |
AUSTLII, Native Title Act, Tax | Article / paper | |
Native Title Anthropology after the Timber Creek Decision | Pamela Faye McGrath | In August 2016, the traditional owners of Timber Creek in the Northern Territory, the Ngaliwurru and Nungali peoples, were awarded over $3.3 million for the loss of their native title rights. $1.3 million of this award was a solatium payment, that is, compensation for hurt arising from damage caused by the loss of connection to the land. Griffiths v Northern Territory of Australia (No 3) [2016] FCA 900 (Timber Creek), which was heard by Justice John Mansfield, is the courts first litigated award of compensation for the loss or impairment of native title rights. In making his decision, Justice Mansfield relied on the evidence of anthropologists when assessing not only connections to country, but also the qualities and consequences of the social impacts that accompany the loss of connections to country. This paper considers the implications of the Timber Creek decision for the work of native title anthropologists and highlights some of the conceptual and methodological shifts required for research on native title compensation claims. The author draws attention to the demanding nature of native title compensation cases and the potential for research to aggravate existing trauma associated with loss of country, arguing for the need for all involved to be attentive to this risk when pursuing future claims. Recommended citation: McGrath, PF 2017, Native Title Anthropology after the Timber Creek Decision, Land, Rights, Laws: Issues of Native Title series, vol. 6, no. 5, AIATSIS Research Publications, Canberra. |
Compensation, Legal, Native Title Act | Article / paper | |
Native Title Corporations: A Legal and Anthropological Analysis | Christos Mantziaris, David E Morrison | In this book, Mantziaris, a barrister, and Martin, an anthropologist, explore the question of the legal framework for native title management following a determination of native title in favour of a particular indigenous group. The book clarifies, for native title practitioners, what is involved in establishing native title corporations and the legal and policy problems that will be faced. |
Native Title Act, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Book | |
So, what’s new? Native Title Representative Bodies and Prescribed Bodies Corporate after Ward | David Ritter | This paper comments on some of the trends in Indigenous native title representation that have continued after the High Court's Ward decision. |
Land rights, Legal, Native Title Act, Water rights | Article / paper | |
Statistics for Community Governance: The Yawuru Indigenous Population Survey of Broome | John Taylor, Bruce Doran, Maria Parriman, Eunice Yu | This paper presents a case study of an exercise in Aboriginal community governance. It sets out the background events that led the Yawuru Native Title Holders Aboriginal Corporation to secure information for its own needs as an act of self-determination and essential governance, and it presents some of the key findings from that exercise |
CAEPR, Community development, Data sovereignty, Governance, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate), Strategic planning | Article / paper | |
Tax and Native Title | Miranda Stewart | This paper discusses the current state of play regarding income tax and GST issues in relation to native title agreements, including recent reforms and ongoing areas of uncertainty. |
Bookkeeping, Native Title Act, Tax | Article / paper | |
The power of data in Aboriginal hands | Peter Yu | This paper explores the critical role that data can play in development scenarios when Aboriginal people are in control of collecting, managing and interpreting data. It was first presented as a pleniary paper at the conference Social Science Perspectives on the 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, held at The ANU on 11–12 April 2011. |
CAEPR, Data sovereignty | Article / paper | |
The right to protect sites: Indigenous heritage management in the era of native title | Dr Pamela McGrath | A large and profitable Indigenous heritage management industry has emerged in the wake of the resources boom of recent decades, with thousands of Indigenous heritage impact assessments conducted every year. Yet few governments have successfully reformed heritage laws to accommodate native title rights, and conflict over site destruction is regularly front page news. The right to protect sites brings together a range of authors who explore native title and Indigenous heritage regimes around the country, and charts the history of advocacy and policy development, highlighting the successes, limitations, inequalities and opportunities of current arrangements. |
AIATSIS, Culture, Heritage, Native Title Act | Book | |
To be, or not to be, a charity: that Is the question for Prescribed Bodies Corporate under the Native Title Act | Dr Fiona Martin | This article evaluates the taxation concessions and other advantages that flow from being a charity and how these might apply to native title groups under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). Specifically, it examines the role of the Prescribed Body Corporate (‘PBC’) under the Native Title Act and the potential for, and limitations of, these bodies carrying on business, engaging in community development and accumulating funds whilst also having charitable status. |
Business, Charity, Native Title Act, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Article / paper | |
Wearing two hats: The conflicting governance roles of native title corporations and community/shire councils in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities | Dr Tran Tran, Clair Stacey | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community governance can be greatly impacted by the nature of the land tenure held or managed by the community. The fragmented system of national and state regimes which provide grants or titles of land to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people has enabled a governance landscape where there are often overlapping rights to land. This creates a situation where relationships within an Indigenous community – and even within a traditional owner group – are competing for power and control. This is most notable with respect to how different community organisations compete for community funding, the durability of culturally appropriate governance structures and the taking of natural resources. The ability of an Indigenous community to resolve potential conflicts, created by the recognition of native title and adapt to the post-determination landscape also impacts upon a communities’ ability to respond to external pressures such as land use planning, water management and government initiated tenure reform processes. Often these conflicts appear between Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate and community or local shire councils – who have historically played the role of land manager and program administrator. This paper looks at the role of cultural governance in supporting the recognition of Indigenous landholdings and the reasons that Indigenous landholdings, in their current form, have failed to be effective in adequately mobilising economic, social and cultural resources to achieve social, cultural, environmental and health benefits in remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Queensland. |
Governance, ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement), Joint Management, Legal, Native Title Act, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Article / paper |