ABSTRACT
Three quarters have found that Indigenous people have native title over their land and waters, with almost eighty percent made by agreement. The configuration of native title that has emerged is not the product of cultural revelation; actors within the system have not simply learned that agreement-making is the wiser choice. The struggle over the fundamentals of native title in the appellate courts within the legislatures and in public discourse seems sometimes regarded almost as having been an inconvenience to the real business of getting on with mediation and agreement-making; it is an inversion that borders on the fantastic. The predication of the common contemporary outlook on native title as a more or less settled issue explains why the public language that is now routinely employed is so often devoid of real meaning. 'Respect' or 'recognition' of native title means no more than a willingness to participate within the rules as they have come to be.
