The precedent value of a Federal Court decision which found that native title had been extinguished on a western Queensland pastoral property was limited since the evidence of any Aboriginal links to the land in that case had not been tested, the National Native Title Tribunal said today.
Yesterday, Justice Sackville of the Federal Court found that native title did not exist on a central Queensland pastoral property known as Castle Hill Holdings. The case arose after the pastoral leaseholder, Mr Noel Kennedy, lodged a non-claimant application for a native title determination over the 238 square-kilometre property in December 1998.
In May 1999, the Koa People lodged a claimant native title application over an area that included Castle Hill Holdings. In July 2000, the Court ordered that the non-claimant application be determined along with the part of the Koa People's claimant application that related to Castle Hill Holdings.
In March 2002, the Koa People were granted leave to withdraw their claimant application which meant the non-claimant application could proceed unopposed.
Mr Kennedy's assertions that Aboriginal people had not lived on or used the land and that therefore native title did not exist, were not tested in Court.
The Tribunal's State Manager for Queensland Mr Kevin Smith said using the non-claimant process to bring certainty for pastoral leaseholders was unpredictable and fraught with difficulty.
'This was an unusual instance where the native title claimants withdrew from the proceedings before the evidence of any Aboriginal connection to the area could be tested,' Mr Smith said.
'That outcome relies on native title claimants not becoming a party to the non-claimant application. That is not likely to be the case in many other instances of native title claims to pastoral land in Queensland.' |