Part of a package of three bills in relation to the establishment of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund, the bill amends the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005 to give the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) functions in relation to water-related rights; require the ILC to prepare a National Indigenous Land and Sea Strategy and regional indigenous land and sea strategies; align rules for dealings in water-related rights granted by the ILC, or acquired with ILC assistance, with rules for dealings in land granted by, or acquired with, ILC assistance; and include experience in water management as a qualifying criteria for membership of the ILC Board; and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005 and Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973 to rename the ILC as the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation
Recognising that many dispossessed Indigenous people would be unable to regain control of land under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (either because of historical extinguishment or disconnection to traditional lands), the Government established the ILC to complement native title laws and assist dispossessed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to acquire and manage land.
Developments in native title case law following the passage of the Native Title Act and the establishment of the ILC clarified the common law was capable of recognising native title rights with respect to the use of water, and the taking of resources from waters, for any purpose (see, eg, Akiba v Commonwealth (2013) 250 CLR 209 and Rrumburriya Borroloola Claim Group v Northern Territory (No 2) [2016] FCA 908). These developments in the law acknowledged that the relationships of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to waterscapes and between land and water are inseparable. From July to September 2017, the ILC consulted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia about including freshwater and sea country in the ILC’s remit. A clear majority of participants supported expanding the ILC’s functions to water.