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Native Title User Group Meeting

4.30 pm Friday 23 February 2001

Minutes

Present

1.      Business Arising from the Previous Minutes

Beaumont J reported:

    ALRC Paper - The Australian Law Reform Commission Paper on 'The review of the Federal Civil Justice System' discussed in draft form at the last meeting is finalised and is a useful resource.

   Federal Court Full Court Appeals subject to special leave applications-Ben Ward v State of Western Australia and  Yarmirr v Commonwealth of Australia are listed for hearing in the High Court of Australia in February and March 2001.  Wilson v Anderson is listed before the High Court of Australia on a date to be fixed.  The decision in Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v State of Victoria and ors was delivered on 8 February 2001.  The time for filing a special leave application has not expired.

Substantive Allocations - All claimant application in NSW have been substantively allocated into an individual Judges docket except where it has been indicated to the Court that the application is to be discontinued or it is a new matter.

  Judicial Review of NNTT Registration Test Decisions -In the matter of State of Western Australia -v- Majorie May Strickland and Anne Joyce Nudding on behalf of the Muduwongga People (W6039/99) judgment was delivered on 18 May 2000.

  National Native Title User Group Meeting - Upon delivery of judgments in the above High Court matters a National User Group Meeting will be held. 

2.      Progression of Matters

Ms Anderson and Ms Kavallaris reported that:

·          There are nationally 562 current matters of which 372 have been notified. 

·          New South Wales has 80 current claimant matters.  A small number are awaiting discontinuance either because of withdrawal or a non-native title settlement.

·          In the NSW claimant matters during last year, 6 matters were dismissed and 17 matters were discontinued.  Judgments were delivered in the 6 dismissed matters which were the subject of notices of motion to strike out arising from authorisation and other issues.

·          A letter from the NSW Aboriginal Land Council informed the Court that 5 NSW claimant matters are to be given priority funding.  This information is important as funding is raised by claimant applicants in relation to their ability to progress native title applications.

3.      Disposition Dates

Beaumont J reported that an initial disposition target of three years had been set by the National Native Title Co-ordinating Committee from October 1999 and is subject to review.  As noted in the previous minutes of the Native Title User Group meeting the Court has a disposition target of 18 months in other than native title matters.  In native title matters the disposition target is three years to take into consideration the procedural requirements of the Native Title Act 1993 and the complex nature of native title proceedings. The disposition target is reviewed by the National Native Title Co-ordinating Committee.

It was suggested by participants that another possible option for a disposition target could be three years to commence from the end of the notification period, or when matters are referred to the Court for hearing after mediation by the NNTT.

Options regarding the resolution of native title matters were canvassed at the meeting.  That is resolution by way of agreement outside of the legal process (eg Indigenous Land Use Agreements) and the identification of predominant issues which will assist in the management by the Court and the parties of large claims eg identifying particular parcels of land and issues of recognition.

4.      Funding Issues

Ms Anderson reported that the Court (through the Principal Registrar) is a member of the National Native Title Consultative Committee which includes representatives from the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department and the NNTT.  A focus of a recent meeting was the funding requirements of representative bodies for the purpose of the progression of native title cases through the Court.

5.      Notification Process

Ms Kavallaris reported that the NNTT has informed the District Registry of its timetable for notification. An outline of the current position regarding notification was provided. 

Mr Solomon reported that it is anticipated by the NNTT the notification process of all NSW claimant cases will be completed by June this year.

6.      Mediation Process

A summary of NSW claimant matters that were the subject of various types of mediation by the NNTT in the year 2000 eg overlap issues was provided.  The NNTT commented that mediation reports are available if requested.  It was noted the confidential nature of mediation conferences limits the content of those reports.

Ms Kavallaris reported that the Court has arranged for case management conferences on site in NSW during the past year.  A case management conference in three matters on site is due next week in Coffs Harbour.  Court conferences on-site allow all parties to discuss issues relating to the matter and its progress.

7.      Other Business

Beaumont J mentioned the need to ensure that proper arrangements in respect of Prescribed Body Corporates were followed through after the making of a Formal Determination of native title.

Meeting closed 6.01pm