Confusion as indigenous cultural heritage Last Man Standing Rule thrown out

The Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships (DATSIP) has responded to the Queensland Supreme Court's decision in Nuga Nuga Aboriginal Corporation v Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships ⁱ (the Nuga Nuga Decision) by no longer recognising that the last registered claimants for an area are the Aboriginal party, unless and until a new native title claim is registered or determined.

In December 2017, Justice Jackson overturned a decision by the Minister for DATSIP to deny registration of the Nuga Nuga Aboriginal Corporation (the Corporation) as a cultural heritage body under section 36 of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 (Qld) (ACHA). The Minister decided that the Corporation did not have the agreement of the relevant Aboriginal parties to be registered. The case turned on the question of who were the native title parties for the purpose of s.36(4)(b)(i) of the ACHA. DATSIP had identified the native title party