The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs is drafting the Native Title (Prescribed Bodies Corporate) Amendment Regulations 2010 under the Native Title Act 1993.
This process will amend the existing regulations to:
- improve the flexibility of the Prescribed Bodies Corporate governance regime by:
- enabling an existing Prescribed Bodies Corporate to be determined as a Prescribed Bodies Corporate for subsequent determinations of native title;
- removing the requirement that all members of a Prescribed Bodies Corporate are also the native title holders; and
- clarifying that standing authorisations in relation to particular activities of a Prescribed Bodies Corporate need only be issued once;
- provide for the transfer of Prescribed Bodies Corporate functions where there has been failure to nominate a Prescribed Bodies Corporate under certain circumstances; and
- enable Prescribed Bodies Corporate to charge a fee for costs incurred in providing certain services. Review procedures by the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations of a decision by a Prescribed Bodies Corporate to charge such a fee will also be set out.
The Australian Government consultation process for the draft amendment regulations closed on 30 April 2010. The Department is currently considering the submissions and will shortly finalise the regulations in preparation for signature by the Governor-General. Further information on the submissions received is available on the Prescribed Bodies Corporate consultation webpage.