Exposure draft native title reforms

Update 29 October 2019
On 17 October 2019, the Native Title Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 was introduced to the House of Representatives. The Bill has minor procedural changes to the exposure draft. Find out more about the Bill on the Parliament of Australia website.

The Attorney-General and Minister for Indigenous Affairs have released exposure drafts of the Native Title Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 and the Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate Legislation Amendment Regulations 2018, for public comment.

The proposed reforms are intended to improve the native title system for all parties. This includes:

• streamlining claims resolution and agreement-making processes
• supporting the capacity of native title holders through greater flexibility around internal decision‑making
• increasing the transparency and accountability of prescribed bodies corporate (the corporations set up to manage native title) to the native title holders
• improving pathways for dispute resolution following a determination of native title, and
• ensuring the validity of section 31 agreements in light of the Full Federal Court of Australia's decision in McGlade v Native Title Registrar & Ors [2017] FCAFC 10.