The glacial progress of native title

Gladys Tybingoompa danced elatedly outside the High Court after the landmark Wik decision of Christmas, 1996. Her joy sprang from the court’s symbolic acknowledgement that in a very real sense, this country belongs to the blackfellas.

It’s important for Indigenous Australia to make some headway economically. But it’s also crucial that we whitefellas sort out some unfinished business. Plenty of good judges reckon that the former depends significantly on the latter.

There’s a good line tucked away in the Native Title Act’s preamble. It says, “the people of Australia intend to ensure that Aboriginal people receive the full recognition and status within the Australian nation to which history, their prior rights and interests, and their rich and diverse culture, fully entitle them to aspire”. What it doesn’t say is exactly when all this beaut stuff will happen.

The Wotjobaluk native title claim - trumpeted by the Victorian government as a “done deal” in October, 2002 - stands becalmed as the glaciers go speeding past. Hopes for a timely settlement of the Rubibi claim in the Kimberly have also melted away.

Land justice? Perhaps when hell freezes over.