The State of Queensland and the Commonwealth alleged that successive legislative regimes since 1877 (for Queensland) and the 1950s (for the Commonwealth) had extinguished Torres Strait communities’ rights to fish for commercial purposes, by regulating “control, management and exploitation of the living resources” within “native title areas”.
On the appeal, the High Court held that such statutes were consistent with the continuing recognition of native title rights to fish for commercial purposes.
