The National Native Title Tribunal assists people to facilitate timely and effective native title outcomes.
Set up under the Native Title Act 1993, the Tribunal is a federal government agency and is part of the Attorney-General's portfolio.
The Tribunal:
- applies the registration test to native title claimant applications
- mediates native title claims under the direction of the Federal Court of Australia
- provides notification of native title applications and indigenous land use agreements
- maintains the Register of Native Title Claims, the National Native Title Register and the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements
- makes arbitral decisions about some future act matters
- negotiates other sorts of agreements, such as indigenous land use agreements.
On request, the Tribunal can provide assistance and information to all people involved in the native title process. This is supported by the Tribunal’s Legal, Research, Geospatial, Library and Operations Policy services.
The Tribunal’s principal and WA registries are located in Perth. Registries are also located in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney.
The President is based in Brisbane and the Registrar in Perth.