• The Framework applies to Crown land. As with native title, the Framework does not affect privately held freehold land.
• Under the Framework, and consistent with current policy, existing third party interests will be protected.
• Existing public access to Crown land will continue.

Where Crown land moves to joint management with Traditional Owner groups, existing third party interests are guaranteed. Public and third party access and use will continue in a manner consistent with Joint Management Plans. Development of these plans will involve public consultation and will require Ministerial approval.

Agreements under the Framework will not undermine existing government policy for the mining and agricultural sectors.

The native title settlements reached in Victoria to date have had a positive effect by bringing the broader community to a better understanding of the culture and history of local Traditional Owner communities. Framework agreements will build on this further and strengthen Aboriginal cultures.

The Department of Justice will hold Framework information sessions in regional Victoria with industry groups, local government and the broader community later this year.

Established in 2005, the Victorian Traditional Owner Land Justice Group is an unincorporated body that provides a voice for each Traditional Owner group in Victoria.

Membership is open to one representative, and a deputy, of each Traditional Owner group. There are currently 17 groups represented on the Land Justice Group. Its aim is to lobby Government for improvements to policy, legislation and action to achieve greater land justice for all Victorian Traditional Owners. It provides a unified voice for all Victorian Traditional Owners and advocates for change at the statewide level.

Five representatives of the Land Justice Group sat on the ten member Steering Committee for the Development of a Victorian Native Title Settlement Framework.

Traditional Owner groups will need to demonstrate the following in order to commence negotiations:

• that they meet threshold criteria showing they are the ‘right people for country’ in relation to a given area (this means establishing a connection to those groups at the time of sovereignty), and that they are an inclusive group; and
• that they have sufficient organisational capacity to carry out negotiations.

A Traditional Owner group is a group of Aboriginal people with a shared association with a particular area, based in a group’s distinct body of traditions, observances, customs and beliefs. This will reflect or link to the traditional Aboriginal occupation of Victoria at the time of European colonisation and settlement.

Aboriginal people who live in a given area will not necessarily be members of the Traditional Owner group for that area. Many Aboriginal people live outside their traditional country by choice or circumstance, including historical circumstances of dispossession and dispersal and ‘stolen generation’ experiences.