ABSTRACT
This chapter describes legal changes in the planning environment precipitated by the statutory land restitution mechanisms, wthichat have very significantly redistributed property in land in Australia. The chapter traces the social, political and legal and historical developments of the land restitution era (comprising the period in which statutory land rights were introduced); describes the legal mechanisms for granting Indigenous peoples rights to own, control and manage land; and discusses the main effects of land rights on the country’s land use and management institutions. Two legislative regimes are considered in detail, those of the Northern Territory and New South Wales.
