Koara People v State of Western Australia

The Koara People, as applicants, sought declarations and injunctions against the State of Western Australia, the second respondent, and the Commonwealth, the first respondent. They claimed that they were registered Native Title claimants with respect to notices issued under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) before 30 September 1998 and sought permanent injunctions to restrain the respondents from granting interests in land unless certain requirements under the Act were satisfied. The applicants argued that the pre-combination applications were not qualitatively different from the consolidated claim. They contended that they were merely attempting to satisfy the criteria of the new Act rather than changing the nature of the claim. The court was required to determine whether the pre-combination applications were qualitatively different from the consolidated claim. The court found that the pre-combination applications were not qualitatively different from the consolidated claim and that the applicants had attempted to satisfy the criteria of the new Act rather than changing the nature of the claim.

The court held that the applicants were registered Native Title claimants within the meaning of the Act with respect to any notices issued prior to 30 September 1998 and affecting any land within the boundaries of the land the subject of native title determination claims WC95/1, WC95/12, WC95/21, WC95/22, WC95/41 and WC95/42. The court also held that the respondents were permanently restrained from granting any interests in land the subject of any s 29 notices unless or until one of the requirements under s 28 of the Act was satisfied. The court made orders declaring that the applicants were and were at all material times registered Native Title claimants and permanently restraining the respondents from granting any interests in land the subject of any s 29 notices unless certain requirements under the Act were satisfied.