Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Holding Act 2013

The chief executive may give a person a certificate (a hardship certificate) under this section if the chief executive is satisfied all of the following circumstances apply—

an application for a lease was made by an applicant under the 1985 Land Holding Act, section 5 on or after 15 June 1985 but on or before 20 December 1991;

the trustee council for the application advised the applicant, or otherwise gave the applicant to understand, that the trustee council had approved the granting of the lease to the applicant, whether or not notification of the approval was given, or purportedly given, under the 1985 Land Holding Act, section 6(1)(b);

either of the following acted in reliance on the advice of the approval—

the applicant;

if the applicant is deceased—an interested person in the estate of the deceased applicant;

despite paragraph (b), the trustee council never lawfully approved, under the 1985 Land Holding Act, the granting of the lease;

if the trustee council had lawfully approved the granting of the lease, the chief executive would be authorised under this Act to publish a lease entitlement notice of a lease entitlement for the lease applied for.

The hardship certificate must—

identify the person who was the applicant; and

to the extent reasonably practicable, give a description of the land that would have been the subject of the lease entitlement; and

include the identification number of the original application for the lease entitlement, if known; and

identify the person who is the recipient of the hardship certificate.

Note—Under ALA, section 126(4) and TSILA, section 91(4), the existence of a hardship certificate means the value of the lease land must be taken to be nil.

The chief executive may identify a person as the recipient of the hardship certificate if the chief executive is satisfied that the recipient would currently be entitled to be the lessee if the application had been lawfully approved and the lease granted.

In identifying the recipient, the chief executive may have regard to the laws of succession.