Native Title Report 2001: Recommendations

back to contents

Native Title Report 2001

Appendix 1:

Compiled Recommendations

Chapter One - The right to negotiate and human rights

• That state and territory government departments administering the issue of future act notifications develop strategic plans, in consultation with NTRBs, with the aim of improving the efficiency of their administrative practices.
• The manner and rate of administering future acts should be determined with the informed consent of NTRBs.

Chapter Two - Resourcing Equality

• The Commonwealth should fund the native title representative bodies sufficiently to carry out their statutory functions in accordance with their responsibility to promote the protection of native title. In particular, NTRBs should be funded so that they have the capacity to fulfil their core functions, prioritise between competing service demands of their constituents, and maintain appropriate standards of corporate governance.
• The Commonwealth should redress the inequity in funding between the native title representative bodies and other organizations in the native title system, such that the native title system does not disadvantage native title parties.

• To ensure a strategic approach, the Government should conduct an audit of all native title applications and hold a summit to determine the capacities and intentions of all elements of the native title system. The provision of adequate funding by the Commonwealth and the role of the Federal Court will be crucial to the success of this initiative. [1]

• More financial resources should be made available to native title representative bodies for the negotiation of ILUAs. [2]

• The government should ensure adequate funding of prescribed bodies corporate to enable them to perform their statutory functions and receive appropriate training to meet their statutory duties. This training should include instruction in directors' duties, accounting procedures and land management. [3]

• The Federal Court should continue to facilitate meetings between representatives from the Aboriginal representative bodies, Federal government, State and Territory governments, Federal Court and National Native Title Tribunal to discuss the expected time frame for resolution of native title claims and ways to manage the cases so as to meet the agreed timetable. [4] Such meetings should be used to formulate regional plans for the management of native title determination applications which take into account the strategic plans of the NTRBs in that region.

1. Recommendation of the Wand Review, op cit .

2. Recommendation of the PJC Report, op cit.

3. ibid.

4. Recommendation 74 of the Australian Law Reform Commission Report, op cit .