In April 1997 the Australia Institute published Native Title: Implications for land management (Discussion Paper No. 11). It was highly successful, with hundreds of copies circulating around Australia from Parliament House in Canberra to remote communities in Western Australia. The success of that paper was proof of the craving for clearly presented information about indigenous

The native title debate has been one of the most acrimonious and divisive political debates in Australia’s history. The historic task of reconciliation requires a just settlement of the claims by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to land. The authors of this paper conclude that legislated extinguishment would be a severe and enduring blow