Native title and Land rights

Topic 

Native title and Land rights

Instructions 

Differentiate between Native Title and Land Rights. What was the significance of the Mabo decision by the Australian High Court in 1992?

Answer Preview 

The similarity between the Native title and the Land rights is that both recognize the traditional rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ to land. However, these two concepts are legally different. The native is based on the traditional indigenous ownership of land and waters, while the land rights is a legislative response by parliaments to the traditional rights. The Native Title Act 1993 set up mechanisms for “native title claims” by indigenous people who assert that their traditional rights have not been extinguished and validate retrospectively the land titles of the occupiers that may have been called into question by the decision(McHugh, 2012).

Word Count: 400