8
Interviewee story summaries
One feature of the CLPSA was a parallel court process involving the Traditional Owners lodging
a compensation application to be determined by consent of the parties. That compensation
claim was filed on 18 September 2020.
Two important aspects to the CLPSA from Daisy’s perspective were that the State agreed to
the Traditional Owners filing a native title application over the Pila Nature Reserve on the basis
of the (then proposed) new section 47C of the Native Title Act and that provision was made
not just for land management activities but also for the creation of an Education Hub, for the
cultural education of students from all eight campuses of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands School. This
had always been Daisy’s vision for her Country.
The amendments to section 47C were passed by federal Parliament on 3 February 2021.61 They
came into effect on 25 March 2021. They had been first proposed by Justice French in 2008.62
At the time of her interview, Daisy was waiting for the imminent lodging of what she hoped and
expected to be a successful native title claim, after so many Elders had passed without seeing
their land returned to them.
A few weeks after her interview, on 28 July 2021, Daisy and the other Traditional Owners of
the Pila Nature Reserve filed their native title claim in the Federal Court (WAD 174/2021). The
determination was finally handed down on 15 June 2022 – the first case to use the new section
47C provisions.
Text Box 8.1: Native title update – section 47C Native Title Act amendment63
In February 2021, section 47C was inserted into the Native Title Act and allows for prior
extinguishment to be disregarded in relation to national parks and other conservation reserves
where agreed by the relevant government.
Another case that has been determined using the new section 47C provision is Drill on behalf
of the Purnululu Native Title Claim Group v Western Australia (No 2) [2022] FCA 1538.
In addition, there are a number of other recent determinations where parties have agreed
to defer determining certain areas to reach agreement under section 47C to disregard
extinguishment, or have flagged the likelihood of entering into a section 47C agreement.
For example, in Austin on behalf of the Eastern Maar People v State of Victoria [2023] FCA
237, it was specifically noted in the determination that section 47C could apply to certain park
and reserve areas in the determination, but that no agreement had been reached by the date
of the determination. The parties agreed to negotiate in good faith about these areas – and
that the State and Commonwealth would not oppose the Eastern Maar people amending their
original application to include those areas or bringing a new application for them.
The Cape York United #1 proceedings,64 have included similar clauses in their determinations.
It is also possible to reach a section 47C agreement for areas already determined, using the
revised native title determination process in the Native Title Act (sections 13(1)(b) and 13(5)).
Australian Human Rights Commission
61