Annual Report 2009–2010 Facilitating timely and effective outcomes. Annual Report 2009–2010 Facilitating timely and effective outcomes. About this report While required to report to the responsible Minister under s. 133 of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cwlth), the primary purpose of the annual report of the National Native Title Tribunal is to inform and be accountable to, fi rstly, the Parliament, and secondly, its stakeholders, about the services provided. The Tribunal is a statutory authority and is therefore not compelled to observe the annual reporting requirements for government departments, however, it chooses to do so. Copies of this annual report in book form may be obtained from any Tribunal registry (see back cover for contact details) or online at www.nntt.gov.au in PDF format. We draw attention to the online version for those readers who prefer to enlarge the type and who may prefer to choose particular parts of the report for downloading. Upon request, the text of this report in whole or in part can be supplied free of charge in Braille. The National Native Title Tribunal encourages readers to make comment on the usefulness and contents of the report. Please forward any comments to the Stakeholder Relations team on freecall 1800 640 501 or email [email protected] . ISSN 1324-9991 ISSN 1445-7776 (Online) © Commonwealth of Australia 2010 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney-General’s Department, Robert Garran Offi ces, National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 or posted at www.ag.gov.au/cca . PAGE 2 21 September 2010 The Hon. Robert McClelland MP Attorney-General Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Dear Attorney I am pleased to submit to you, for presentation to the Parliament, the annual report of the National Native Title Tribunal for the year ended 30 June 2010. This report has been prepared in accordance with s. 133 of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cwlth). Yours sincerely Graeme Neate President PAGE 3 Contents President’s overview . 9 Year in review . 9 Introduction . 9 External factors affecting the Tribunal . 10 Tribunal membership . 24 Trends and challenges . 25 Conclusion . 28 Registrar’s report . 31 Tribunal overview . 35 Role and functions . 35 Tribunal members . 37 Organisational structure . 38 Outcome and program structure . 40 Report on performance . 43 Financial performance . 43 How the Tribunal is funded . 43 Outcome and program performance . 43 Key results in 2009-10 . 46 Tribunal fi nances. 46 Understanding the Tribunal’s fi nancial statements . 47 Performance overview . 47 Price . 47 Client satisfaction . 47 Performance against key performance indicators . 47 Results . 48 Overview of current applications . 50 Strategies to maintain the momentum of agreement-making . 57 Program 1.1—Stakeholder and community relations . 59 1.1.1–Capacity-building and strategic/sectoral initiatives . 59 1.1.2—Assistance and information . 60 Program 1.2—Agreement-making . 62 1.2.1 —Indigenous land use agreements . 62 1.2.2—Native title agreements and related agreements . 64 1.2.3—Future act agreements . 71 Program group 1.3—Decisions . 73 1.3.1—Registration of native title claimant applications . 73 1.3.2—Registration of indigenous land use agreements . 75 PAGE 4 1.3.3—Future act determinations and decisions whether negotiations were undertaken in good faith . 81 1.3.4—Finalised objections to expedited procedure . 83 Management . 87 Tribunal Executive . 87 Corporate Governance . 88 Members’ meetings . 88 Strategic Planning Advisory Group . 88 Agreement-making Liaison Group . 89 National Future Act Liaison Group . 89 ILUA Strategy Group . 90 Senior managers’ forums . 91 Corporate and operational planning and performance monitoring . 91 Risk management . 92 Information and technology management . 93 Management of human resources . 95 Recruitment, workforce planning and structure . 95 Reward and recognition . 100 Learning and development . 101 Occupational health and safety performance . 102 Accountability . 105 Ethical standards and accountability . 105 Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance . 106 External scrutiny . 106 Judicial decisions . 106 Freedom of information . 106 Other scrutiny . 106 Accountability to clients . 107 Online services . 108 Performance against purchasing policies . ..