ABSTRACT
Native title began life with potent enemies. The mining industry, by far the most dominant sector of the Australian economy was implacably opposed to the Native Title Act from the outset. This chapter focuses on the mining and pastoral industries, which were represented by various national and state associations and were by far the most politically and economically significant of the organised respondents. The fishing industry, for instance, was not an insignificant political player and had very specific reason for nervousness. The enormous cattle and sheep stations were historically crucial to the development of Australia's economy, but even as the industry became relatively less lucrative, the myth of the pastoral industry and, rather more prosaically, rural vote-weighting in some jurisdictions ensured that the sector continued to exercise substantial political and cultural influence. Both the mining and pastoral industry argued that strong procedural rights were actually antithetical to good 'practical' relations with Aboriginal people.
