Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:C2024C00224:front:0:p13
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:C2024C00224
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 33953–35926

to negotiate. It is also important that the broader Australian community be provided with certainty that such acts may be validly done.

A special procedure needs to be available for the just and proper ascertainment of native title rights and interests which will ensure that, if possible, this is done by conciliation and, if not, in a manner that has due regard to their unique character.

Governments should, where appropriate, facilitate negotiation on a regional basis between the parties concerned in relation to:
     (a) claims to land, or aspirations in relation to land, by Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders; and
     (b) proposals for the use of such land for economic purposes.

It is important that appropriate bodies be recognised and funded to represent Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders and to assist them to pursue their claims to native title or compensation.

It is also important to recognise that many Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, because they have been dispossessed of their traditional lands, will be unable to assert native title rights and interests and that a special fund needs to be established to assist them to acquire land.

The Parliament of Australia intends that the following law will take effect according to its terms and be a special law for the descendants of the original inhabitants of Australia.

The law, together with initiatives announced at the time of its introduction and others agreed on by the Parliament from time to time, is intended, for the purposes of paragraph 4 of Article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, to be a special measure for the advancement and protection of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, and is intended to further advance the process of reconciliation among all Australians.

The Parliament of Australia therefore enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary