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Traditional owners say justice has been served for their people as the high court dismissed a commonwealth appeal in a landmark compensation case.
The commonwealth lost the high court battle over whether it may be liable for up to $700m in compensation for bauxite mining at Gove in north-east Arnhem Land.
Gumatj leaders Djawa Yunupingu and Balupalu Yunupingu celebrated outside the high court on Wednesday after hearing the judgment against the commonwealth.
“Justice has been served for my people and the people of north-east Arnhem Land,” Djawa Yunupingu said.
Renowned land rights activist the late Gumatj leader Dr Yunupingu originally brought the case in 2019, alongside an application for native title on behalf of his clan.
Djawa Yunupingu emotionally acknowledged his late brother as the “mastermind” behind the effort.
“He was the one who had the vision,” he said.
Gumatj lawyer Sean Bowden told reporters the decision was a “victory for decency, common sense and the rule of law”.
“Today’s decision validates the strength of belief in Aboriginal people, generally, not just in themselves but in their place in Australia,” he said.
In May 2023, the federal court found native title rights and interests are property, and the extinguishment is an acquisition, and therefore be made under “just terms”.
It found the Gumatj clan’s land was not acquired “on just terms” before being leased to the Swiss-Australian mining consortium Nabalco in 1968.
In its decision on Wednesday, the high court upheld this decision.
“Native title recognises that, according to their laws and customs, Indigenous Australians have a connection with country,” the judgment read.
“It is a connection which existed and persisted before and beyond settlement, before and beyond the assertion of sovereignty and before and beyond Federation.
“It is older and deeper than the constitution.”
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The federal government had argued if its appeal failed it would be liable to pay native title holders compensation “to an indeterminate number of grants of interests” in the Northern Territory land and that would have “enormous financial ramifications”.
After the high court judgment, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the government recognised the “significant contribution” the late Dr Yunupingu made in initiating the case.
“The commonwealth appealed to the high court to settle critical constitutional issues in this case,” he said.
“This decision clarifies the constitution’s application to those issues for parties to this and future matters.”
Dr Ed Wensing, Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Indigenous Policy Research at the Australian National University, said the decision would have implications for the ACT, not just the NT.
Greens Senator Dorinda Cox said the government must now “step up” and ensure the Gumatj people receive the compensation they are owed.
“For too long, First Nations people have borne the cost of mining and resource extraction on our lands without proper respect and shared benefit,” she said.
“This ruling sends a clear message and precedent: the commonwealth cannot ignore its obligations when it comes to First Nations land rights.”
A native title application, which Dr Yunupingu filed at the same time as the compensation case, will continue to be heard in the federal court.
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