Philip Hunter is a prominent native title practitioner who has assisted and advised native title representative bodies, registered native title bodies corporate, native title holders, native title claimants and Commonwealth and State Government agencies on native title and Indigenous cultural heritage law since 1994. Philip has been involved in many high-profile native title cases – including the successful High Court appeals for the Wik Peoples and Waanyi Peoples in 1996 and Yanner -v- Eaton in 1999 – and has assisted in the negotiation of numerous consent and contested determinations of native title and indigenous land use agreements (ILUAs), native title agreements and cultural heritage management plans (CHMPs) and agreements for major resource, renewable and infrastructure projects.
Philip is in Chambers Global, Doyle’s Guide (Market Leader) and Best Lawyers™ Australia for Native Title, Transportation, Trade and Shipping & Maritime .
Expertise
Experience
- Pilbara traditional owner groups Acting ead negotiator from 2007 to 2016 advising the groups in their negotiation with Rio Tinto of comprehensive native title agreements, ILUAs and a regional framework agreement for Rio Tinto’s existing and future iron ore operations in the Pilbara and the establishment and approval of benefits management/trust structures and the modernisation of those agreements (2020 to date).
- Mid-west WA Native Title group Advising on negotiations with the Commonwealth Government and CSIRO on the Square Kilometre Array Project (next generation radio telescope).
- Native Title Advising on various native title holding and claim groups in the negotiation of numerous native title agreements, CHMPs and ILUAs concerning major mining, gas and infrastructure projects in western Cape York, the Galilee Basin, north-western Queensland, western Queensland, Abbot Point, Hay Point and the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
- Wik & Wik Way Peoples Advising since 1994 on their native title claims which resulted in the making of five consent determinations of native title over about 30,000 km² of their traditional lands from 2000 to 2012 and the subsequent grant of Aboriginal freehold title to part of their traditional lands to their RNTBC.
- Commonwealth Government Acting as an investigator appointed by a Commonwealth Minister to undertake the first ministerial investigation of a native title representative body under section 203DF of the Native Title Act.
- Northern Territory Representing a statutory land council and an Aboriginal Land Trust as respondents to Federal Court proceedings concerning site nomination processes for a Commonwealth radioactive waste management facility, which were summarily dismissed – Bill v Northern Land Council [2018] FCA 1823.
