Content of this ILUA
Pursuant to this ILUA, the parties give their consent to the siting, construction, maintenance, operation and fencing of the Barkly Corrections Facility (also known as the Barkly Work Camp) in the ILUA area. This Corrections Facility was scheduled to be completed by the end of April 2011, after some controversy over its remote location (Bolton, 2010; Crawford, 2011).
Furthermore, the parties to this ILUA agree to the doing of any future acts agreed to in this ILUA, subject to the conditions listed therein, at any time either before or after the registration of this agreement on the National Native Title Tribunal Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements. In accordance with this ILUA, future acts that have already been undertaken in the ILUA area are declared valid to the extent that they affect native title at the time when the ILUA is registered.
The parties also agree that the right to negotiate provisions in Subdivision P, Division 3, Part 2 of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) do not apply to any of the future acts to which consent has been granted under this ILUA.
Background to native title in the ILUA area
The Patta Aboriginal Corporation, which is a signatory to this ILUA, administers land on behalf of the Patta Warumungu people. Their traditional ownership of lands in the Tennant Creek area was recognised by the Federal Court of Australia in the Patta Warumungu People v Northern Territory of Australia (Tennant Creek No. 2) consent determination on 3 September 2007. The claim pertaining to this determination was filed with the Federal Court as proceeding no. NTD8/06. The land covered by this determination overlaps with the area subject to this ILUA.
In making the determination, the court found that the Patta Warumungu people had non-exclusive native title rights over around 27 square kilometres of land. These rights included the right to live on, travel over and access the land, as well as the right to hunt, gather, collect natural resources, conduct ceremonies and undertake other kinds of traditional activities. These rights did not extend to areas of land over which native title rights had been surrendered to allow for the residential and commercial development of the Tennant Creek town. | |