Indigenous Dispossession in the 21st Century

Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia, Pivot North: Inquiry into the Development of Northern Australia: Final Report (Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, September 2014) <http://www.aph.gov.au/∼/media/02%20Parliamentary%20Business/24%20Committees/244%20Joint%20Committees/JSCNA/Final%20Report/Final.pdf> (‘Pivot North Report’).

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, White Paper on Developing Northern Australia <https://northernaustralia.dpmc.gov.au/>.

Coalition's 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia (June, 2013) <http://lpaweb-static.s3.amazonaws.com/Policies/NorthernAustralia.pdf>.

Pivot North Report, above n 1, ix.

This article uses the term Indigenous to indicate both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The majority of contexts are those of mainland Australia and therefore concern Aboriginal people and interests, although the Queensland tenure amendments also affect Torres Strait Islander lands.

Altman Jon Markham Francis , Submission to Inquiry into the Development of Northern Australia (Submission 136), 5 <http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=d56add0a-d3b0-4636-8e10-2d1870c6994c&subld=206623>.

Pivot North Report, above n 1, 109 (emphasis added).

Coalition's Policy for Indigenous Affairs (September 2013) 8 <http://lpaweb-static.s3.amazonaws.com/Coalition%202013%20Election%20Policy%20%E2%80%93%20lndigenous%20-%20final.pdf>.

See, eg, s 188 of the Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld).

See Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) Part 2, Division 3.

Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land (Providing Freehold) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2014 (Qld) (‘ATSI Freehold Amendment Act’) amends Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld) and Torres Strait Islander Land Act 1991 (Qld).

ATSI Freehold Amendment Act, 32L(3)(b).

Ibid s 32Z(2)(c).

See, eg, de Soto Hernando , The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else (Basic Boob, 2000); Hughes Helen , Lands of Shame: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘Homelands’ in Transition (CIS, 2007).

For a good overview, see Wensing Ed Taylor Jonathan , Secure Tenure for Home Ownership and Economic Development on Land Subject to Native Title, AIATSIS Research Discussion Paper No 31 (August 2012); Godden Lee Tehan Maureen , (eds), Comparative Perspectives on Communal Lands and Individual Ownership — Sustainable Futures (Routledge, 2010).

See, eg, Commonwealth v New South Wales (1923) 33 CLR 1, 42.

See, eg, Wright v Gibbons (1949) 78 CLR 313.

Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld), s 3. There are further definitions of ‘Aborigine’ (sic), ‘Aboriginal people’ and ‘Aboriginal traditions’ in ss 5–7. Equivalent provisions exist in the Torres Strait Islander Land Act 1991 (Qld). The focus in this article is principally on mainland Australia, so reference will be made to the Aboriginal Land Act.

Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld), s 188.

Ibid s 100.

Ibid s 74(2).

Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1.

See, eg, Aboriginal Land Act 1991 (Qld), s 24. Land over which native title exists is available as Aboriginal freehold.

ATSI Freehold Amendment Act, s 32Z(2)(c).

See, eg, Submission of Executive Committee of the Kaurareg Aboriginal Land Trust and Kaurareg senior Aboriginal Elders, Inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land (Providing Freehold) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014, Agriculture, Resources and Environment Committee, Qld (20 June 2014).

Altman Markham , above n 6.

Altman Jon , The Political Ecology and Political Economy of the Indigenous Land Titling ‘Revolution’ in Australia (Paper presented at Maori Law Review Indigenous Law Speaker Series, Victoria University, Wellington NZ, 24 September 2014) 2.

See discussion in Wensing Taylor , above n 16.

See, eg, Altman J C Linkhorn C Clarke J , Land Rights and Development Reform in Remote Australia, Research Discussion Paper No 276 (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, 2005).

See, eg, Smith Diane , Valuing Native Title, Discussion Paper 222 (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, 2001); Stephenson MA , ‘Compensation and Valuation of Native Title’ in Stephenson , (ed), Mabo: The Native Title Legislation (QUP, 1995) 134.

See, eg, discussion in Fox Lorna , Conceptualising Home: Theories, Laws and Policies (Hart, 2006).

See, eg, submission on behalf of the Kaurareg people, above n 26.

See discussion of land and human rights in Wensing Taylor , above n 16.

Christensen Sharon Duncan Bill , ‘Aligning Sustainability and the Torrens Register’ (2013) 20(2) Australian Property Law Journal 112; O'Connor Pamela Christensen Sharon Duncan Bill , ‘Legislating for Sustainability’ (2010) 35(2) Monash University Law Review 233.

Christensen , ‘Early Land Grants and Reservations’ (2008) 15 JCU Law Review 42, 44.

See, eg, the range of leasehold tenures available under the Land Act 1994 (Qld), providing for diverse leases designed to promote infrastructure development.

Qld govt, Land Tenure Statistical Information (19 September 2014) <https://data.qld.gov.au/dataset/land-tenure-statistical-information/resource/eb4ea8ab-1d4d-4f1d-9c69-72987d8ead3f>. The statistics do not differentiate Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander freehold from regular freehold.

Eves Chris Blake Andrea , ‘Assessing the Long Term Viability of Leasehold Rural Land in Queensland’ (Paper presented at the 19th Annual Pacific Rim Real Estate Society Conference, Melbourne, 13–16 January 2013).

See, eg, Kanninen Tapio , Crisis of Global Sustainability (Routledge, 2013).

Enacted by the ATSI Freehold Amendment Act.

For example, as expressed in the Qld Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Freehold Title in Indigenous Communities (16 September 2014) <https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/our-department/policies-initiatives/indigenous-land-initiatives/freehold>.

Qld, Parliamentary Debates, 8 May 2014, 1433, 1436 ( Cripps Hon A P ).

See, eg, Wensing Ed , ‘Indigenous Land Tenure Reforms: Implications for Land Use Planning’ (Paper presented at Planning Institute of Australia 2013 National Congress, Canberra, 24–27 March 2013).

See, eg, WA, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 13 November 2014, 8126b, 8128a ( Barnett Colin ).

Ibid.

See eg, WA, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 20 November 2014, 8444a ( Travers Ken ).

Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria (2002) 214 CLR 422.

Watson Nicole , ‘Review of Aboriginal Land Titles’, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, Briefing Paper No 7 (September 2005).

WA Department of Aboriginal Affairs Aboriginal Heritage Legislative Changes <http://www.daa.wa.gov.au/en/heritage-and-culture/aboriginal-heritage/aboriginal-heritage-legislative-changes/>.