Section 31(1)(b) of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) states that all of the negotiation parties must negotiate in good faith with a view to obtaining the agreement of each of the native title parties (i.e. the registered native title claimant or registered native title body corporate) to the doing of the future act, with or without conditions to be complied with by any of the parties.
The National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) has advised that “Negotiation” can be understood by its dictionary definitions, and “involves communicating, having discussions or conferring with a view to reaching an agreement”; and “Good faith” means “honesty of purpose or intention, sincerity”, and “doing what is reasonable in the circumstances” – in this context, in order to negotiate and reach agreement with the native title parties.
