Review of the Future Acts Regime: Discussion Paper
Submission Date: 24 July 2025
The Law Council of Australia provided a submission in response to the Discussion Paper released by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) in May 2025 as part of the Review of the Future Acts Regime (Review).
The Discussion Paper poses 23 questions and lists 18 proposals concerning reform to the Future Acts regime. The Law Council understands that feedback on the Discussion Paper will inform the ALRC’s Final Report for the Review.
This submission addresses each of the questions and proposals in the Discussion Paper.
The Law Council welcomes many of the ALRC’s proposals which would, in our view, enhance consultation and negotiation processes for First Nations people with Government and private parties within the Future Acts regime. The Law Council also acknowledges that the ALRC has addressed various elements of our earlier submission on the Issues Paper dated 16 April 2025.1 This includes issues concerning consultation and negotiation processes, resourcing, compensation, the complexity of the existing regime, and its relationship to other regimes, including state and territory laws and cultural heritage laws.
The Law Council again emphasises that the Review presents an opportunity to better align the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA) with international law, and especially with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).2 In our view, UNDRIP’s principles—in particular, the principles of free, prior and informed consent and effective participation—must be implemented within the NTA, with specific application to the Future Acts regime.
1 Law Council of Australia, Review of the Future Acts Regime: Issues Paper, April 2025, <https://www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/47.-Law-Council-of-Australia.pdf>.
2 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, GA Res 61/295, UN Doc A/RES/61/295 (2 October 2007, adopted 13 September 2007).
Last Updated on 19/08/2025
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