Govt moves to take native title claims out of the courts

Lengthy court battles over native title claims could be done away with if the Commonwealth, state and territory governments have their way.

Representatives met in Perth on Friday to agree on ways to shorten the time it takes to settle a claim.

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland supports negotiated packages.

He says this procedure has meant that communities have received benefits such as training programs and housing.

He says the current system for resolving native title is highly complex and there needs to be a change of attitude on all sides.

"We all need to look at trying to keep these matters out of the courts, where the process is very complicated, very expensive, very time consuming, in the order of seven-and-a-half years to resolve a matter before the courts," he said.

"Instead [we need] to take the opportunity we have, particularly with the resources we have occurring in Australia, to sit down and achieve some practical outcomes that provide some long-term sustainability for Aboriginal communities."

He says there have already been a number of decent outcomes negotiated out of court.

"If you look at some of these agreements, the potential benefits to these communities from the mining industry for instance, provides a real opportunity to acquire real opportunities for their communities," he said.

"It is a real opportunity to bridge the gap between Indigenous Australians and the rest of Australia by basing these entitlements on legitimate rights as to simply government handouts."

A potential problem with out-of-court procedures is that one side may be bullied into accepting an outcome that they are not happy with. But Mr McClelland insist that negotiated outcomes are not meant to replace the court process.

"It's always important that any negotiations are underpinned by the fact that any party can at any time have access to the courts," he said.

"I think the thing to sign off on though, or to make clear to parties is that the number of cases where applicants, the claimants, are being successful in the courts is really very narrow.

"It's incredibly complex and it's really a gamble as to whether they're going to succeed in that process."

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