Assignment 3- Essay Topic 3: Discuss the political struggle for recognition of indigenous rights to land. In your answer, consider the benefits and limitations of the native title Act and recent United Nations criticisms of the current Act. For years we have witnessed the Indigenous population’s political struggle for recognition of rights to Australian land. At times the effort appears to be endless and achieving recognition almost seems impossible. Native Title and Land claims have become a step closer in achieving this recognition; however, for land rights to exist in an absolute form, they cannot exist as a mere Act of Parliament but must form a fundamental part of the Australian Constitution. This seemingly gigantic task is part of the incessant political struggle that the Indigenous population will continue to face.
The United Nation’s is an integral part of the political struggle between the Australian government and the Indigenous people and have on many occasions fought to raise the issue of human rights violation within the Australian constitution. When Captain Cook arrived in 1788 and the colonisation of Australia began, the Indigenous people of Australia struggled and fought to protect their country from infringement, theft and violation. The Indigenous people were faced with a dominant military force and an extremely different view of the world. Over one hundred years ago, the colonists understood this land to be open for the taking and the rightful first owners were treated as intruders on their own land. In 1901 the commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed and a supposedly new era was to occur for this “lucky country” and its inhabitants. http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/433/433pl6.h tm However, for Indigenous Australians, this year marked a 113 years of resistance, removal, withdrawal and dispossession. Over one hundred years later, the Native Title act is passed and Indigenous Australian’s continue their political struggle for land rights Land rights are defined as the entitlement to inhabit and use the land. Indigenous Australian communities seek to gain land rights or “Native Title” over certain parts of Australian land.
The Research paper on Principles of Dispute Resolution in indigenous Australian Community
The manner in which the indigenous population in the so called the aboriginal community are represented in the criminal justice system is bringing a lot of questions according to the Heather and Braithwaite1. The Aboriginal community is increasingly overrepresented and at the same time families are experiencing high levels of violence. Heather and Braithwaite argue that finding a solution of these ...
This allows the Indigenous Australians the right to hunt, fish and inhabit the land and also gives them the right to contribute to decisions over construction, fishing or mining of that land. The struggle to return the right of communal ownership of the land, the sea and waterways to the Indigenous people of Australia has been a long one. Native Title aims to allow Indigenous communities the right to use the resources of the land and provides the necessary material base for a self-sufficient existence, including the right to self govern within a multicultural nation. http://www.firstpeoples.org/land rights/australia/land rights in australia.htm Native Title is the name that is used by the Australian “High Court” to describe the rights and interests Aboriginal people have over their lands. These rights and interests are called “Common Law”. It is important to note that Native Title is not a new type of land grant but a common law that dates back before the European settlement of Australia. http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/433/433pl6.h tm The Native Title Act is different to the Land Rights Act because the claimants don’t obtain “Aboriginal freehold title” to that land. Native title may exist on unoccupied land of the Commonwealth such as, national parks, public reserves, other public lands and also on pastoral leases. Native title cannot be claimed on land where there are privately owned homes or other private property such as commercial or residential property under freehold title. http://www.firstpeoples.org/land rights/australia/land rights in australia.htm The Native Title Corporations of Australia say that The Native Title act requires every victorious title “claimant group” to form a corporation to manage their title.
The Essay on Native Title Law Reform Australia
... the English legal system. “Native title is the right of Indigenous people to their traditional land.”(Cambridge Legal Studies, preliminary, pg ... HCA 40 (23 December 1996) Mabo – Native Title revolution 2000, Film Australia, Pdf, accessed 11 May 2014, . Social Justice and ... creation of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (‘The Act’). Terra nullius means land belonging to no one or land that has never ...
This corporation will then become the groups “face” in all its Native Title dealings. http://www.firstpeoples.org/land rights/australia/land rights in australia.htm However, to get to this stage of the Native Title claim takes much time, effort and money. There are many court appearances, negotiation case meetings and dealings with the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT).
The NNTT’s role is to mediate the meetings between Indigenous community negotiations. It is in these meetings that the benefits and limitations of the Native Title Act become clear. http://www.hurights.or.jp/wcar/E/doc/indigenous/AN TAR.htm There have been many limitations with the various Native Title Acts since 1998. Problems with the Acts themselves have caused much uproar with the Indigenous people of Australia, the Australian government and the United Nations Committee (UN).
For example, on the 11th of August 1998, the UN committee on the elimination of Racial Discrimination requested that the Australian government provide it with information on the amendments to the Native Title Act 1993. The main idea of this request was to attend to the committee’s concerns that the Native Title alterations may not be attuned with Australia’s responsibilities under the “International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination”. http://www.firstpeoples.org/land rights/australia/land rights in australia.htm This outlines one of the major limitations of the Native title Acts. It demonstrates that although the Acts are formulated to benefit the Indigenous people of Australia and there rights to Australian land, they do raise issues as to whether they are in favour of other issues that would benefit the government over the Aboriginal people of Australia. This is demonstrated through the Native Title Research Unit which stated, “The 1998 Amendments to the Native Title Act were strongly opposed by Indigenous peoples. They appeared to be balanced in favour of other interests, at the expense of the interests of Indigenous peoples and to the detriment of Native Title.” http://www.firstpeoples.org/land rights/australia/land rights in australia.htm Another Native Title Limitation is the lack of education to the people of Australia when it comes to the idea of claiming land rights. Most Aboriginal people have a good understanding of the legal situation itself, however, white Australia has been turned into total chaos thinking Indigenous people are claiming their land, taking their backyards and making immense claims over most of the Australian land. This is totally untrue and should be clarified to the Australian public through the media.
The Term Paper on Aboriginal title on the lands of Canada
Aboriginal title on the lands of Canada is a complex issue today. The question is that these peoples settled on the land much earlier than did the residents from Great Britain and Europe on the whole. It is quite fair to leave after Aboriginal unity of people the lands which were occupied by their predecessors. The basic element in this issue concerning people’s rights is to save social ...
This myth has sparked much racial tension between the Indigenous population of Australia and that of white Australia. As long as this ignorance continues, so will this limitation to Native Title claims. http://www.hurights.or.jp/wcar/E/doc/indigenous/AN TAR.htm A further limitation of the Native Title Act is the amount of time it can take for Native Title to be granted. The Mabo case took ten years from start to finish. Cases involving native title are complicated, extremely lengthy and can be very expensive. After Mabo, many of the other claimant cases needed to appeal to the higher courts to rule on Native Title issues. The cost of this would be beyond the reach of most Aboriginal communities.
This is an additional example of one of the major limitation’s of the Native Title Act and shows how the political struggle for recognition of Indigenous rights to land will continue to be a long one. http://www.faira.org.au/pressreleases/1998/05/29fa ira3.html The current Native Title Act states that no two Indigenous communities can claim the same land, this means that the section of land claims must be clearly ….
