Native Title Act 1993

Subject to subsection (1A), the Registrar must remove the details of an agreement from the Register if:

in the case of an agreement under Subdivision B of Division 3 of Part 2—an approved determination of native title is made in relation to any of the area covered by the agreement, and the persons who, under the determination, hold native title in relation to the area are not the same as those who had previously been determined to hold it; or

in the case of an agreement under Subdivision C of Division 3 of Part 2—an approved determination of native title is made in relation to any of the area covered by the agreement, and any of the persons who, under the determination, hold native title in relation to the area is not a person who authorised the making of the agreement as mentioned in:

if the application relating to the agreement was certified by representative Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander bodies as mentioned in paragraph 24CG(3)(a)—paragraph 203BE(5)(b); or

if the application relating to the agreement included a statement as mentioned in paragraph 24CG(3)(b) to the effect that certain requirements have been met—that paragraph; or

in any case:

a party advises the Registrar in writing that the agreement has expired, and the Registrar believes, on reasonable grounds, that the agreement has expired; or

all the parties advise the Registrar in writing that they wish to terminate the agreement; or

the Federal Court, under subsection (2), orders the details to be removed.

If the details of an agreement are removed from the Register, the agreement will cease to have effect under this Act from the time the details are removed: see subsection 24EA(1) and paragraph 24EB(1)(b).

Removal of the details of an agreement from the Register does not affect the validity of a future act that has already been done: see subsections 24EB(1) and (2A) and 24EBA(7).

If:

the Registrar is or will be required to remove the details of an agreement from the Register in a case covered by paragraph (1)(a) or (b); and

the persons who, under the approved determination of native title mentioned in that paragraph, hold native title apply to the Federal Court for an order under this subsection; and

the Federal Court is satisfied that those persons accept the terms of the agreement, in accordance with the process by which they would authorise the making of such an agreement;

The Federal Court may, if it is satisfied on application by a party to the agreement, or by a representative Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander body for the area covered by the agreement, that the ground in subsection (3) has been made out, order the Registrar to remove the details of the agreement from the Register.

The ground is that a party would not have entered into the agreement but for fraud, undue influence or duress by any person (whether or not a party to the agreement).

If the Court orders the Registrar to remove the details, the Court may also order the person who committed the fraud, exerted the influence or applied the duress to pay compensation to any party to the agreement who will suffer loss or damage as a result of the removal of the details.