Native Title Act 1993

The Federal Court may make an order requiring:

a person who, either alone or jointly with another person, made an application under section 61, to produce evidence to the court that he or she was authorised to do so; or

a person who has dealt with a matter, or is dealing with a matter, arising in relation to such an application, to produce evidence to the court that he or she is authorised to do so.

An order under subsection (1) may be made:

on the Federal Court’s own motion; or

on the application of a party to the proceedings; or

on the application of a member of the native title claim group or compensation claim group in relation to the application.

Subsection (4) applies if:

an application does not comply with section 61 (which deals with the basic requirements for applications) because it was made by a person or persons who were not authorised by the native title claim group to do so; or

a person who is or was, or one of the persons who are or were, the applicant in relation to the application has dealt with, or deals with, a matter arising in relation to the application in circumstances where the person was not authorised to do so.

Section 251B states what it means for a person or persons to be authorised to make native title determination applications or compensation applications or to deal with matters arising in relation to them.

The Federal Court may, after balancing the need for due prosecution of the application and the interests of justice:

hear and determine the application, despite the defect in authorisation; or

make such other orders as the court considers appropriate.