2014-03-03 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                     3 MARCH 2014


If the Council has not elected join as a respondent by 17 March, it can choose to do so at a later
but will need to seek leave and make application to the Court for approval to do so which
involves costs.

Historically, Native Title claims take many years to work their way through the court process.
However, the Federal Court has taken a much more strict approach to the management of native
title claims than was the case in previous years. The Court now manages claims to ensure that
claims will be resolved within 3 years from their commencement.

As the claim has only recently been filed, the first step is for the claim group to collate sufficient
historical and anthropological evidence and research to support their assertion to hold Native
Title over the claim area. This claim was filed with the backing of the Land Council (Queensland
South Native Title Services). Information about the historical and anthropological evidence will
be provided to the State Government for review and assessment as part of the claim process. In
other parts of Queensland, Councils generally rely upon the State's assessment of connection
material as they have neither the resources nor expertise to become involved in that process.

Once a claim is made in the Federal Court and notified by the National Native Title Tribunal,
parties with an interest within the claim area that may join as a respondent party. A relevant
interest includes:

   the holder of tenure interests (such as the trustee of reserves and other State land within the
    claim area);
   the owner and operator of infrastructure;
   a regulator under laws such as planning schemes, local laws and other laws for which
    Councils are responsible; and
   operational interests such as maintenance, pest control and other day to day operations of
    Council.

Noosa Council should take the opportunity to join as a respondent to the application while we are
able to do so. It is our understanding that Morton Bay Regional Council and Sunshine Coast
Regional Council have elected to become respondents. It is expected that Gympie Regional
Council and Wide Bay Regional Council will also elect to become respondents. However, our role
as a respondent should be to monitor progress of the application, to identify any potential impacts
of the application on our region and to respond to any issues that arise during the process that
relate to the Noosa area.

The CEO has made enquiries of who could represent the Council in relation to this Native Title
application. Council's usual solicitor (Wakefield Sykes) has indicated that this is a specialised
area of law and has suggested that Council retain the services of an experienced solicitor who
has acted for local governments in Queensland on native title issues. The CEO has identified
Jenny Humphris from McDonnells Solicitors in Brisbane as being suitable in that regard.

Once the application proceeds further, more information will be available about any potential
implications in the Noosa region. At that point, a further report will be provided to Council about
the extent and implications of the Native Title claim.

FINANCE & RISK

Given a “watching brief” approach, there should be minimal impact on Council’s ‘legal budget in
the short term.




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