AIATSIS Update

Australia Brown v State of South Australia [2009] FCA 206
This case was a native title determination application. There were two issuesin the case. First, was the group identified in the application a nativetitle claim group under section 61 of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (‘NTA’). It was held that the applicant’s family group was not a native title claimgroup but rather a subgroup or a group larger than specified in the application.Second, was the applicant authorised by the native title claim group tomake the application. On this point it was found that the applicant didnot meet the authorisation requirements under section 251B. For these tworeasons the native title determination application was struck out undersection 84C NTA.InternationalCarrier Sekani Tribal Council v. British Columbia (Utilities Commission), 2009 BCCA 67In this case the broad general principles of the Crown’s duty to consultand, if necessary, accommodate Aboriginal interests were applied to a concreteset of circumstances.Kwikwetlem First Nation v. British Columbia (Utilities Commission), 2009 BCCA 68This appeal under s. 101 of the Utilities Commission Act, R.S.B.C. 1996,c. 473, questions British Columbia Utilities Commission’s approach to theapplication of the principles of the Crown’s duty to consult about and,if necessary, accommodate asserted Aboriginal interests on an applicationunder s. 45 of that Act, for a certificate of public convenience and necessityfor a transmission line project proposed by the respondent, British ColumbiaTransmission Corporation.William v. British Columbia (HMTQ), 2009 BCCA 83In this case a trial judge’s stay was lifted on appeal proceedings aftera very long Aboriginal claims trial. Trial judge's order raises issues ofpublic interest and of importance to Aboriginal law. Settlement discussionsamong the parties, unsuccessful after a year can, continue while the appealmoves forward.Wolfchild v. U.S. 2008 CAFC 5018The court determined that self-described "lineal descendents" of the LoyalMdewakanton Dakota are not owed money for land promised to their ancestorsin the late 1800s.The Native Title Research Unit also maintains an ILUA summary which provideshyperlinks to information on the NNTT and ATNS websites
http://ntru.aiatsis.gov.au/research/ilua_summary.pdf

Native title in the News
http://ntru.aiatsis.gov.au/Public/webdata/ntru/publications/nativetitle_news.html
Burnside, S, ‘We’re from the mining industry and we’re here to help: theimpact of the rhetoric of crisis in future act negotiations’, AustralianIndigenous Law Review, vol.12, no.2, 2008, pp.54-66.See the Aurora Project: Program Calendar for information about Learningand Development Opportunities for staff of native title representative bodiesand native title service providers. http://www.auroraproject.com.au/Learning&Development.htm

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