The minister must accept the views of the traditional owners as to whether the land or object is of significance according the Aboriginal tradition. The Act also contains a fundamental guarantee that it will not be used to overrule Aboriginal tradition in terms of Aboriginal people's actions in relation to sites, objects, and remains. It does not affect the ownership of the heritage protected under the Act but the minister does have the power to acquire land or objects for the purpose of protecting them. The Minister may also place these acquisitions in the custody of an Aboriginal person or organisation. This includes a protected native plant but not a plant of a threatened species or a plant protected by the plan of management for the reserve.
Similar provisions exist for restrictions on harming animals in certain parks and reserves.
The Agreement can cover such things as the maintenance, sale or use of the property and the rights, needs and wishes of both parties. The dispute arose when a professor in that department sought to renew permits for the possession of cultural artefacts that had been removed from four cave sites in the southern forest region in Tasmania from 1987-1991. There were over 400,000 artefacts including food remains, stone and bone tools, animal faeces and bits of shell. There was no skeletal material among the artefacts. Several of the permits granting departmental staff members the right to take the artefacts from Tasmania had expired, and an application for renewal was made by the department and rejected in 1994.