'Up there with Mabo': Native title claims worth billions expected after landmark High Court win
The High Court has ruled that indigenous land owners are entitled to "just terms" compensation for acts between 1911 and 1978.
The Commonwealth faces a new wave of native title claims worth billions of dollars after the High Court ruled on Wednesday that Indigenous landowners are entitled to “just terms” compensation over the Gove bauxite mine in the Northern Territory.
In a 6-1 decision one lawyer said was "up there with Mabo", the court found that native title is 'property' under section 51(31) of the Constitution and that the Commonwealth should have consulted the Gumatji clan before acquiring the land and leasing it to Nabalco in 1968.
The Commonwealth is now potentially also liable for any act between 1911 — when it assumed responsibility for the Northern Territory — and 1978, when the Territory gained self-government.
The Gumatji claim alone is said to be worth $700 million and could invalidate every grant of freehold or leasehold title in the Northern Territory between 1911 and 1978.
