8 Interviewee story summaries amount and had also borrowed some of her family members’ compensation to pay a bill of over $20,000. Coral said she had to discontinue with his services because she had no more money to pay for them. Coral has had two unsuccessful mediations in the native title system. For the first mediation, Coral’s family had no legal representation at all, while the other side came ‘armed with barristers and QCs and what not.’ Coral asked if the other side’s lawyers could leave the mediation before it started but after the lawyers and mediators left the room for the parties to discuss the issues, the situation between the parties became heated and Coral said one of her female cousins was threatened by one of the men from the other side. According to Coral, that mediation was unsuccessful because her family rejected the other’s side’s offer of giving them ‘permission’ to access the Country that Coral and her family knew was theirs. Coral said this other group had a native title claim application on that country, and believed that, because of their native title claim application, it was their Country already, that Coral and her family had no right to claim it, and Coral’s family needed permission from them to go there. … it was never going to work from the get go. They didn’t accept that it was our Country. Coral told us that the second mediation was unsuccessful because when she met with a representative from the other group, that person deliberately spoke about Coral’s mother when Coral had specifically told everyone that her mother was not to be referred to in the proceedings at all. Coral had been furious at this mention and felt disrespected, and the mediation fell apart. Coral questioned how so many parties within the system over the years could fail to see the truth despite the evidence she has presented. She kept expecting the evidence to speak for itself and has been repeatedly disappointed and frustrated. In 2017, when Coral’s family were able to successfully register their own native title claim in southwest Queensland, that allowed them to negotiate for cultural heritage work. They were pleased about this, as it allowed them to get back out on Country. But that situation was short‑lived and now, Coral feels she has no access to her Country because, as far as she is concerned, Federal Court decisions have either relocated her ancestors to areas where they have no connection and are claimed by other groups, or allowed other groups to claim her Country. She feels that if she cannot regain access to her own Country, her family will never be able to heal. Australian Human Rights Commission 85