Applicant’s viewpoint: Tracing Native Title governance - Conception to determining Traditional Owner futures

In October 2015, the Federal Court handed down a native title consent determination for the Mithaka people of South-West Queensland. Covering approximately 33,000 sq km, this is one of the largest in Queensland to date, encompassing the majority of the Channel Country and a significant environmental region within the Lake Eyre Basin. 

As Mithaka mobilise following the consent determination, deliberations within newly developing governance structures are dominated by how they will shape their future culturally, socially, environmentally, and economically. 

This presentation will focus on the complexity of the differing governance structures encountered and required on the road to Native Title consent determination. Tracing the journey of decision making from Traditional Owner Families (pre registered Native Title claim), to Applicant and Claimants (pre Consent Determination), through to Directors and Members (post Consent Determination),  from a Mithaka Applicants perspective.