On 17 March 2026, the Crown Land Management Amendment (Statutory Review) Bill 2026 (the Bill) was introduced into Parliament to amend the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (CLM Act), the Commons Management Act 1989 and Crown Land Management Regulation 2018 (CLM Regulation)….
A decision handed down by the Federal Court in December 2025 provides crucial guidance on how the “undertaking of public works” can extinguish native title claims. The judgment is of particular importance to government agencies managing Crown lands who need…
In previous In Focus articles, we have considered cases dealing with the variable meaning of the word “land” in different statutory contexts. In the planning context, the word “land” is generally concerned with a physical, three-dimensional tract of the earth’s…
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name of a deceased person. On 12 March 2025, the High Court handed down its landmark decision in the much-awaited native title case of Commonwealth of Australia v Yunupingu…
As part of a 5-year statutory review, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has been appointed to review the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (CLM Act). During its review, it has released a discussion paper seeking input from stakeholders….
It is well established that before a consent authority has the power to grant development consent, the owner of the land on which the development is to take place must give consent to the lodgment of the development application. If…
The Land and Environment Court (LEC) has found that the land of the former Waverton Bowling Club is ‘claimable Crown land‘ under s36 of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (ALR Act) and has ordered that it be transferred to the…
After little more than a week since its introduction, the National Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill 2021 (‘Bill‘) has passed through the NSW Parliament. The Bill will change the way national parks and other terrestrial protected areas are managed in NSW,…
In an earlier post, we alerted readers that on 5 August 2021 the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) released for public consultation the draft Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (Draft EPA Reg). The Draft EPA Reg is…
On 4 June 2021 the Crown Land Management Regulation 2018 (CLM Regulation) was amended to remove the deadline for councils managing Crown land (Council Crown land managers) to adopt plans of management for that land by 30 June 2021, and removing…
Recently, we published an alert (see here) about an opportunity for public input into the independent statutory review of the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (NSW) (‘CLM Act‘), run by the Crown Land Commissioner, Professor Richard Bush (‘the Commissioner‘). The…
The Crown Land Commissioner, Professor Richard Bush, is undertaking an independent statutory review of the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (CLM Act) and has published a discussion paper seeking the public’s input into the review. About the statutory review The Commissioner was…