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| When the British occupied Australia they called the country terra nullius - belonging to no-one - and for 200 years the law recognised no indigenous rights to land. Mabo and Native title
The position changed totally in 1992 when after a 10 year legal battle the Australian High Court agreed that Eddie Mabo and the islanders of Mer had a native title right to traditional lands. Native title is a unique form of land title. It describes the recognition in Australian law that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rights to their country where they follow traditional laws and customs and have a continuing connection to land or waters and where title has not been extinguished by legislation or act of Government. The 1993 Native Title Act which followed was based on extensive negotiations between indigenous peoples, government, pastoralists and industry. The Act:
Another Act established a Land Fund for indigenous people who had been forced off their lands and could not qualify for native title. Recognising native title was a giant legal step but making a claim was complicated and took years. It was often hard for claimants to prove traditional lifestyle and connection to land, because many Aboriginal peoples had been forced to give up traditional practices. Aboriginal society keeps records through song, dance and stories not in writing. Many of the ceremonies were secret, restricted under severe penalties to certain people and groups frequently had overlapping claims for different rights in the same areas. The Wik case and 1998 Native Title Act amendments
Under the 1993 Act, native title rights could only be claimed on vacant or Crown lands, not on freehold land (so no-one was going to lose their back garden). But 42% of Australia is Crown land on long term pastoral leases (for grazing cattle or sheep), and it was unclear from the Mabo decision whether native title rights could be claimed over these pastoral rangelands. The 1996 High Court Wik judgement said that native title rights could only be extinguished by deliberate act. They could co-exist with pastoral leases, but where there was inconsistency, the pastoral lease would prevail. The Governments response was to take deliberate acts which would largely extinguish native title. Amendments to the 1993 Native Title Act were forced through Parliament in 1998, against the express wishes of Aboriginal and environmental groups. The amended Act prevented claims over large areas of land by redefining the nature of pastoral leases, increased the powers of the mining and pastoral industries and State Governments at the expense of native title claimants, imposed new and unrealistic requirements on native title claimants, largely replaced the right to negotiate about future developments with a right to talk. Since 1992, only a handful of native title claims have been recognised through the procedures set out in the Native Title Act. However negotiated agreements are also being pursued.
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