Native Title Amendment (Reform) Bill 2011
Information about the Inquiry
On 12 May 2011 the Senate referred the Native Title Amendment (Reform) Bill 2011 for inquiry and report.
This private senator's bill, introduced by Senator Rachel Siewert, amends the Native Title Act 1993 to effect reforms that address two key areas for native title claimants:
• the barriers claimants face in making the case for a determination of native title rights and interests; and
• procedural issues relating to the future act regime.
These measures include: the application of the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to decision-making; heritage protection; the application of the non-extinguishment principle to the compulsory acquisition of land; the right to negotiate to apply to offshore areas; good faith negotiations; profit sharing and royalties in arbitration; enabling extinguishment to be disregarded; burden of proof; the definition of ‘traditional'; and commercial rights and interests.
Submissions should be received by 29 July 2011. The reporting date is 03 November 2011. On 03 November 2011,the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 09 November 2011.
The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.
Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:
Committee Secretary
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3560 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5794 or by email to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.
Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential Committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.
For further information, contact: Committee Secretary
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia