Thanks for your comments everyone.

Mickijo,
I think this point bears repeating. You continue to talk about the cost involved in Native Title claims, especially the cost to the taxpayer.
Unless someone can correct me on this- as far as I know EVERY SINGLE TIME NATIVE TITLE HAS BEEN GRANTED IT HAS BEEN APPEALED BY A GOVERNMENT (state, federal or both).
Where does the fault for these public costs lie?
Might this be a tactic by our governments to try to intimidate current and future claiments (that any case will be dragged out and challened to the nth degree) with the added benefit that the whole Native Title process gets discredited and burdened with this public cost?

Kartiya,
as you raised some history, I was personally very surprised when I learnt that (in Henry Reynolds words) "the basic principles of native title were so clearly understood and so forcifully stated [over] one hundred and fifty years ago" (Reynolds, 1987: pp 163. 'the Law of the Land').
It is long past time for our country to resolve this, properly, and in my opinion in a much deeper way than even the best that Native Title can offer us.
One more quote from Reynolds.
"The embarrassing fact is that many contempory Australians will not concede to the Aborigines as much as the evangelical aristocrats and pious bourgeosie reformers of the 1830's and 1840's" (pp. 155).
It's a sad state of affairs.

One thing that has depressed me over these last years, is that if anything, we seem to be moving backwards.
That was until Wilcox's decision. I hope it stands.

P.S. Tuesday night 7:30pm SBS Insight.
Should be very interesting, and no doubt will give us some things to talk about.

Hans.

The SBS INSIGHT WITH JENNY BROCKIE show was very good .It will be repeated during the week.

Interestingly Ruddock said he wants more NATIVE TITLE DECISIONS . I wonder which way he wants them to go.
The Liberal member for the Gold Coast who is against their Native title claim struck me as living very much in the past .
It was good to see a leading mining industry Native Title Negotiator, telling Ruddock and Co that the Mining Industry was not having either real or imagined problems with the Native Title laws.
I will buy him a beer too .cheers, kartiya