Source: The Age
September 14, 2009 - 9:49PM
Native title claims are expected to be processed faster under new laws passed by parliament.
The amendments to the Native Title Act give the Federal Court the power to manage the mediation of land claims by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people.
The court will now be able to more forcefully pull into line recalcitrant parties and if a matter becomes deadlocked, it can use its case management powers to ensure it is resolved.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the changes would speed up the processing of native title claims, of which there is a backlog of about 500.
"By improving the efficiency and timeliness of mediation, the measures contained in the Bill will improve the operation of the native title system and the outcomes that can be achieved under it," he said on Monday.
The coalition supported the legislation but Liberal senator Russell Trood said he had some reservations about it.
"I am not particularly confident that these particular proposals ... are actually going to make a material change to the speed with which there is a resolution of these matters," he told parliament before the vote.
Senator Trood said the draft laws marginalised the National Native Title Tribunal and may impose an additional burden on the Federal Court.
He was also worried that the mediation of claims would become inconsistent and fragmented because the legislation failed to define who can be a mediator and doesn't require them to have any particular qualifications.
"The mediators themselves will be given considerable coercive powers under the legislation," Senator Trood said.
"Mediators have a role to play but I think it's important that they exercise their powers in a consistent fashion.
"We ought to be careful about giving these kinds of coercive powers to people with limited qualifications or over which the Act itself proposes no particular accountability."
Australian Greens senator Rachel Siewert said her party would support amendments as well, although she didn't believe they went far enough.
Senator Siewert said her biggest issue with the legislation was that it still required indigenous groups to prove their connection with the land, instead of shifting the burden of proof to the states.
The Native Title Amendment Bill 2009 passed the upper house without amendment.
© 2009 AAP
BONNY SYMONS-BROWN AND SUSANNA DUNKERLEY