Taungurung Settlement Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA)

Central Victoria

Registered with the National Native Title Tribunal on the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements on 30 April 2020. This is an authorised area agreement under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).

The Taungurung Settlement Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) was agreed, under the provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), between

• the State of Victoria;
• Mick Harding and Pasty Smith (Taungurung Signatories); and
• the Taungurung Clans Aboriginal Corporation.
  

The ILUA validates State actions that would otherwise be invalid in relation to the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). It also provides for the negotiated surrender of the Taungurung people's native title rights and interests over the areas affected by the State's actions, except where a grant of freehold title is made to the Taungurung Clans Aboriginal Corporation.

The Native Title Representative Body for this area is First Nations Legal & Research Services Ltd.

Background to the Agreement:

This ILUA provides for the extinguishment of the Taungurung People's native title rights and interests over 20,210 sq km in Central Victoria. It was negotiated with the State of Victoria alongside a suite of agreements contained in the Taungurung Recognition and Settlement Agreement (TRSA) (Department of Justice Victoria).

The ILUA is Attachment 2 to the TSRA. Its full details are not publically available.

Details of the Agreement:

Commencement and Termination

The ILUA commenced as a contract between the parties on the date on which it was signed by the last of the parties to do so. This date is not specified in the Extract.

It will come into effect on the latter of:

• its date of registration, 30 April 2020;
• the date that notice of the registration of the Land Use Activity Agreement is published. The Land Activities Agreement is contained within the TRSA and replaces the future act regime under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). It provides the Taungurung with a say in acts that are carried out on public lands; or
  
• the date on which the Natural Resource Agreement is published. The Natural Resource Agreement is contained within the TRSA and provides the Taungurung with access, use, and the management of natural resources.
  

Details of the Natural Resources and the Land Use Activity Agreements are not publicly available in the TRSA.

Right to negotiate

The parties agree that the right to negotiate provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) do not apply to the future acts listed below.

Extinguishment

The Taungurung signatories on behalf of the Taungurung people agree that the surrender of native title is intended to extinguish all native title rights and interests over the areas that are subject to a future act, including where the State causes any land in the ILUA area to no longer be public land. Native title is not surrendered or extinguished where a grant of freehold title is made to the Taungurung Clans Aboriginal Corporation.

The parties consent to:

• the validation of all future acts (other than intermediate period acts) that were done invalidly by the State, with respect to the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), prior to the ILUA's registration date;
  
• acts done by the State in the ILUA area on or after the date that the ILUA came into effect;
• the sale of up to five surplus Crown land sites, listed in Schedule 4 of the ILUA, and any subsequent grant of freehold title over those lands; and
  
• the surrender of native title on behalf of the Taungurung people over the areas to which the above future acts apply.

Native Title in the Area

The Tungurung People filed four native title claims between 1998 and 2001 in the Federal Court of Australia (VID6021/1998; VID6006/1999; VID6002/2001; VID 60001/2001).

On 11 August 2020, the Taungurung People and the State of Victoria reached a settlement for a full and final settlement of all native title claims under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic) (Department of Justice Victoria).

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