Cabinet decides on Mabo law.
by Paul Camberlin
Canberra: A marathon meeting of the Federal Cabinet last night
finalised three crucial areas of contention in draft national
legislation on Mabo, setting up potential conflict with the
States, industry and Aborigines.
The Cabinet argued for six hours over the three sticking
points, before agreeing on a formal position on Aboriginal
right of veto, compensation and "special attachment" to the
land, and the status of existing land titles.
Government sources said last night that this final position
had been distilled from a meeting of Federal, state and
Territory bureaucrats last week,and marked the end of the
Government's negotiations on these points.
The Prime minister will now have to try to drag the States
and Territories into line on these issues, while convincing
industry and Aborigines that the middle ground on the three
points is workable.
On the first point, rather than reject perhaps the most
controversial Aboriginal demand - a right of veto over
developments on land granted to them as native title - the
Cabinet decided to give them a "right of negotiation".
Aborigines will not be able to veto projects, but will be able
to consult with intending land developers such as mining
companies, farmers and tourism operators.
If there is no agreement, the matter will be taken to planned
national native title tribunals for arbitration.
However, Government sources said a tribunal decision could be
overridden by the Commonwealth or the States on the grounds
that it did not accord with the "national interest".
It is still unclear what will happen if the Federal Government
disagrees with a State. States are the nation's land title
managers, and a disagreement between governments opens the way
for a constitutional crisis.
However, the federal Government hopes that many differences
can be ironed out before national legislation is introduced
into Federal Parliament in the Budget session of sittings.
The second point looked at the value of compensation to be
paid to Aborigines dispossessed since 1975 (when the Racial
Discrimination Act was introduced, meaning that any
subsequent granting of land effectively has to recognise
native title as always existing).
This question revolved around Aborigine's "special attachment"
to the land.
The Cabinet decided that compensation payments would normally
be capped at the freehold value of the land in question, but
this value could be multiplied to satisfied special
attachment. (Note - a normal multiplying factor of 1.2 is
suggested in the Australian newspaper.-R)
This multiplication would come into play when the land was
considered virtually worthless by Western standards, such as
desert, but had deep spiritual or customary significance to
Aborigines.
The third point is a confirmation of the stated policy of mr
Keating and Federal ministers that there is no threat to
existing residential, pastoral and tourism leases.
These leases all extinguished native title. The only exception
is where these leases contained reservations for Aborigines,
such as a right to pass through the land for hunting or
customary purposes. However, for mining leases, native title
could be revived once the lease expired.
(ends)