Thread by @drlouisehansen

#AusUPR20 Score Card: The Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (“NTA”) has fundamental flaws that favour mining interests over Aboriginal peoples’ rights which are inconsistent with the principle of equality before the law. 1/6

Amendments to the NTA have further eroded common law rights to procedural fairness and reduced the ‘right to negotiate’ over the exploitation of Native Title lands, in contravention of UNDRIP Articles 8, 18, 19 & 20. 2/6

Under the NTA Traditional Owners do not have rights to refuse mining. Only when mining is agreed can they negotiate an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA), where the terms are usually kept secret. 3/6

Native Title rights provide substantially less rights than other property rights, privileging mining that dominate the private negotiations of ILUAs, providing no leverage or capacity to refuse mining for Traditional Owners. 4/6

In August 2019, the Queensland Government extinguished the native title of the Wangan and Jagalingou people from over 1,385 hectares oftheir traditional lands to make way for the Adani coalmine. 5/6

Recommendation: Australia must amend the Native Title Act to enact free, prior and informed consent; remove powers to compulsorily acquire native title lands and extinguish native title rights; and include compensation regardless of date of extinguishment. 6/6