Pastoral Access Protocols: The corrosion of Native Title by contract

In this paper, Frances Flanagan examines one aspect of the Nharnuwangga, Wajarri and Ngarla Native Title settlement: the pastoral access protocols. Arguably, in order to engender ‘certainty’, the protocols develop the ‘generalist statements’ of co-existence (as have been made in Federal and High Court decisions) into a discrete list of rules concerning the how, what, where, and when of exercising Native Title rights on land leased for pastoral purposes. Flanagan describes how the protocols treat Native Title rights compared to the rights of pastoralists. She also provides a brief reference to the historical relations between Aboriginal people and pastoralists in the pastoral industry.