Progress remained steady for the resolution of native title applications during the second half of 2008, according to a report released today by the National Native Title Tribunal.

Claimant applications still take on average about six years to resolve by agreement. However, Tribunal President Graeme Neate said if parties changed their approach to native title matters there was an opportunity to improve the process and reduce the time to resolve claims.

Mr Neate said the Australian Government had called for a behavioural change to ensure a ‘more timely’ resolution of native title claims, and the Tribunal supported this.

“One of the main reasons resolutions are delayed is the time it takes to prepare and assess the ‘connection’ material needed to show claimants’ links to their traditional land or waters,” he said.

“The Tribunal has been developing a range of strategies to enable this material to be processed more quickly. These include research projects, and conferences to bring parties together before the connection material is submitted, to sort out what information the parties need.

“Resolution of disputed overlapping claims, identification of tenures where native title is extinguished, and clarifying the interests and number of respondent parties are some of the other critical tasks the Tribunal has identified which may help improve the speed of claims resolution.”

The Tribunal’s report includes national and state/territory statistics, graphs showing applications and trends since the Tribunal began operating in 1994 and commentary explaining the Tribunal’s approach to future native title resolution.

Nationally, the report states there have now been 117 determinations of native title (82 that native title exists), which relate to 11.6 per cent of Australia’s land mass and large areas of sea.

In New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory: 

• 30 determinations of native title have been registered in NSW (two in 2008), with most of these determining that native title does not exist
• 32 native title applications are current in NSW, with 20 referred to the Tribunal for mediation
• there is one current claimant application in the ACT
• two indigenous land use agreements were registered in 2008, bringing the total to eight.

In Victoria and Tasmania:

• five determinations of native title have been registered in Victoria
• 15 native title applications are current in Victoria, with nine referred to the Tribunal for mediation
• there is no current native title activity in Tasmania
• two indigenous land use agreements were registered in 2008, bringing the total to 33.

In the Northern Territory:

• 11 determinations of native title have been registered since 1 January 1994
• 166 native title applications are current, with seven referred to the Tribunal for mediation
• six indigenous land use agreements were registered in 2008, bringing the total to 88
• only one determination of native title has found that native title does not exist.

In Queensland:

• 43 determinations of native title have been registered since 1 January 1994, two in 2008
• 141 native title applications are current, with 115 referred to Tribunal for mediation
• 28 indigenous land use agreements were registered in 2008, bringing the total to 194.

In South Australia:

• three determinations of native title were registered in 2008
• 23 native title applications are current, with 20 referred to the Tribunal for mediation
• eight indigenous land use agreements were registered in 2008, bringing the total to 24.

In Western Australia:

• three determinations that native title exists were registered in 2008
• 23 determinations of native title have been made since 1 January 1994
• three indigenous land use agreements were registered in 2008, bringing the total to 12
• 99 native title applications are current, with 89 referred to Tribunal mediation.