PBC’s and Registered Native Title Body Corporates (RNTBC’s)

RFF provides a wide range of services to establishing or established Prescribed Body Corporates (PBC’s) and Registered Native Title Body Corporates (RNTBC’s) across Western Australia. Our team has extensive experience working with PBC’s and RNTBC’s on the ground to build capacity, transfer knowledge and maximise benefits for members and common law holders.

 Negotiating meaningful outcomes requires diverse knowledge and a range of technical skills. We believe our skills and knowledge on financial and economic analysis, land tenure and planning, native title and heritage offer a unique skill set which offers our client a broader view to potential outcomes or strategies which might be reached through an agreement making process. We excel at coordinating agreement making processes in ensuring we incorporate effective consultation with members and proponents. We are also highly skilled in managing and providing instructions to legal representation as part of agreement making, future act and Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) processes.

 We know external resources are a significant cost burden to PBC’s and RNTBC’s and in our view, proponent led interactions should not be funding by proponent led interactions on a wide variety of matters in addition to Native Title and Future Act proceedings. Ongoing consultation alone can become a significant cost and resourcing burden to the organisation, elders and knowledge holders, members and common law holders. Its imperative therefore that we are able to enable and then support PBC’s and RNTBC’s to recover costs from project to project.

 Transfer of knowledge to internal resources is also important. It is our goal to ensure that our services to PBC’s and RNTBC’s are temporary. Where the is opportunities to build knowledge with long-term, committed staff, particularly members we will ensure that the support we provide is integrating to delivering learnings into the organisation.

 Setting up internal systems and procedures can also help limit the reliance on external resources in the longer-term. This is also an important aspect of how we approach our service to PBC’s and RNTBC’s.

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH)

Preparation of Readiness Reports to assist in determining whether the become a Local Aboriginal Heritage Service (LACHS) in association with the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021

• Registration and establishment of a Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Service (LACHS)

• Ongoing operation and capacity building of a Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Service (LACHS)

• Coordination of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) surveys

• Negotiating or agreement-making on Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) Management Plans required for certain activities pursuant to the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021

• Making submissions to the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) Council regarding the grant of permits

• Coordinating applications to the establishment of Aboriginal Protected Areas or areas of State Significances.

Native Title

• Managing future act proceedings associated with the Native Title Act 1993

• Assisting with the making applications for the recognition of Native Title or amendments to existing determinations

• Leading of supporting agreement making processes regarding private agreements or an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) in relation to the grant of future acts including tenure granted through the Mining Act 1978 and the Land Administration Act 1997

• Leading or supporting negotiations to reach holistic state settlement agreements in relation to past compensable acts

• Providing technical and project management support for compensation proceedings in the Federal Court

• Providing commercial advice and economic analysis in agreement making or compensation proceedings by analysis potential commercial feasibility of proponent projects and identifying innovative and sophisticated means to deliver long-term value to Common Law Holders as compensation outcomes for impairment or extinguishment of native title

Advocacy and External Consultation

• Preparing submissions and advocating for PBC’s and RNTBC’s to protect Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) and Native Title Rights and Interests in relation to proponent proposals at a local, state and federal government level such as land access and acquisition proposals, environmental permits

• Preparing submissions on local, state and federal government

• Managing consultation processes for Offshore Environmental Permit Applications through the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA)

Land Use and Transfers

• Supporting members to plan for the management of country including enhancing rights and protection of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) or areas with high cultural and native title use, and unlocking areas of economic potential by investigating outcomes for the economic use of Country where it is culturally appropriate

• Coordinating the divestment of land through the WA State Government’s Aboriginal Lands Trust (ALT) divestment process

• Making unsolicited applications for the grant of tenure through the State Government General Land Enquiry Process

• Preparing business cases to support land development or land use projects which are a high priority for the PBC or RNTBC and its members

• Coordinating land use, development and environmental approvals for PBC or RNTBC member led project initiatives

• Identifying and coordinating funding applications to support economic development projects

• Assisting with the identification of potential development capability partners and negotiating comprehensive partnership outcomes to unlock land and project finance

Governance, Training and Resourcing

• Strengthening cost recovery measures for PBC’s and RNTBC’s to ensure that proponent driven engagement are not a cost burden to PBC’s and RNTBC’s by leveraging Social Licence, the provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 and the Native Title (Prescribed Body Corporate) Regulations 1999

• Developing and implementing internal policies to enhance organisational outcomes, compliance with the organisation rule book and the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006

• Strategic and Organisational Planning

• Improving operational systems

• Supporting Human resource planning to meet organisational requirements

• Managing external funding to support operations of specific projects including applying for, managing and acquitting funds

• Annual reporting requirements

• Training and Education on Native Title and Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act Legislation to staff and members

Get In Touch Today

To find out more about us and the solutions RFF Australia can provide, get in touch with our team. We can provide Advisory Services to any project in the Regional Australia. Contact us today.