Mansfield J
In this matter the Court considered an application by the Northern Territory government for an order striking out an application for determination of native title under s 84C of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA).
The native title application was commenced in 2015 by Virgil Wanirr on behalf of nine clans in relation to a large area including the Town of Batchelor in the Northern Territory.
The Northern Territory's strike out application was made on the same basis as strike out applications made in various other applications and the Court gave reasons for judgment in relation to those applications on the same date as this decision: Thardim v Northern Territory of Australia [2016] FCA 407.
Mansfield J found, consistent with the reasons in Hazelbane v Northern Territory [2014] FCA 886 and Hazelbane v Northern Territory of Australia [2016] FCA 408, that this claim was made by a subset of the putative native title holding group and is contrary to s 61 of the NTA as the putative native title holding group includes at least 11 other clans that do not form part of the claimant group.
The Court found that the claim by as subset of the putative native title holding group had no realistic prospects of succeeding as a matter of fact and the authorisation process adopted in this claim was flawed.
Orders
For these reasons, the native title determination application was struck out under s 84C NTA.