Sacred sites being put at risk due to native title law, Queensland review told

A number of Indigenous Queenslanders are concerned native title laws can be used to ‘box tick’ approvals for developments which can then lead to the destruction of sacred sites. Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AP

Thirty years after the landmark Mabo decision relegated terra nullius to legal fiction, a number of Indigenous Queenslanders say the resulting native title laws can be used to “box tick” approvals for the destruction of sacred sites.

The concerns relate to how developers, miners and government departments seek to obtain the approval of traditional owners for construction and extraction projects on their lands, with criticisms that the system is too reliant on native title claims.