...Condemnation...
Some commentators condemned the legislation passed by Queensland, including Barbara Hocking, the barrister who had spoken at the 1981 Townsville conference and who had acted for the plaintiffs in the early days of the claim:
'The legislation was disgraceful. It purported to destroy a legal claim when the High Court was in the process of hearing that claim, it purported to extinguish any native title or black land ownership but not that of any common law or white owners, and it purported to do this without paying any compensation to those black land owners, even though other Queensland land owners might be entitled to compensation.'
'The legislation was disgraceful. It purported to destroy a legal claim when the High Court was in the process of hearing that claim, it purported to extinguish any native title or black land ownership but not that of any common law or white owners, and it purported to do this without paying any compensation to those black land owners, even though other Queensland land owners might be entitled to compensation.'
Keywords: extinguishment, High Court of Australia, Hocking, Barbara, Mabo v Queensland No.1, native title, Queensland, Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act , 1985 , 1985
'Human Rights and Racial Discrimination after Mabo' in 'Essays on the Mabo Decision' at p 181.
Author: Kenna, Jonathan
Source: Hocking, Barbara
Author: Kenna, Jonathan
Source: Hocking, Barbara