The Tribunal is an impartial, independent and expert body which facilitates timely and effective native title outcomes.
Set up under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cwlth), the Tribunal is a federal government agency and part of the Attorney-General's portfolio.
The Tribunal is not a court and does not decide whether native title exists, although we do make arbitral decisions chiefly in relation to future act matters. In addition the Registrar of the Tribunal is responsible for making administrative decisions about the registration of claimant applications and indigenous land use agreements.
Under the Native Title Act the Federal Court may refer native title matters to the Tribunal for mediation. The Tribunal assists parties to reach agreements about whether native title exists and related issues. These agreements then become the subject of determinations or other orders made by the Court.
The Tribunal is responsible for a wide range of functions under the Native Title Act including:
- assisting people at any stage of proceedings under the Native Title Act, including providing assistance in the preparation of applications
- applying the registration test to native title claimant applications and registering applications that meet all the registration test conditions on the Register of Native Title Claims
- registering Indigenous land use agreements
- mediating between parties to native title applications referred to the Tribunal by the Federal Court of Australia and reporting to the Court on the progress of mediation
- notifying individuals, organisations, governments and the public of native title applications and Indigenous land use agreements
- mediating between parties to assist them to reach agreement about certain future acts that might take place on areas where native exists or might exist (for example mining)
- making arbitral decisions about some future act matters
- assisting parties to negotiate Indigenous land use agreements
- maintaining the Register of Native Title Claims, the National Native Title Register (the register of determinations of native title) and the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements
Click on the left hand menu items for more information about how we work.
On request, the Tribunal can provide assistance and information to all people involved in the native title process. If you want to know more about the our services, or how the Tribunal may be able to assist you, go to the Tribunal services page and the mediation and agreement-making services page, or contact us at one of our registries.
The Tribunal’s Principal and WA Registries are located in Perth. The South-East & Central Registry is managed from Sydney, with regional offices in Melbourne and Adelaide. The Queensland Registry has offices in Brisbane and Cairns.
The President is based in Brisbane and the Registrar in Perth.