Mabo v Queensland

Mabo v Queensland was a significant court case decided in the High Court of Australia on 8 December 1988. It found that the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act, which attempted to retrospectively abolish native title rights, was not valid according to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. The case was closely related to another proceeding in the High Court , decided in 1992 which was a dispute between the Meriam people and the Government of Queensland, in which several Meriam people, principally Eddie Mabo, contested that they had certain native title rights over the Murray Islands. In... 1985, the Queensland Government passed the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act, which was intended to retrospectively abolish any such native title rights, if they existed. The Meriam people sought a demurrer to prevent the Queensland Government from relying on the Coast Islands Act in their defence to the main case. The main argument of the plaintiffs was that the Coast Islands Act was invalid, because it was contrary to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, a law passed by the Parliament of Australia.
more