Lack of transparency, accountability and poor representation can lead to native title agreements that may not serve an Indigenous community’s best interests.
Transparency International Australia’s research identified corruption risks in the agreement making process between native title parties and a mining company. These risks include those negotiating with a mining company on behalf of a native title party not representing community members’ interests and the lack of transparency of the content of agreements between mining companies and Indigenous parties. These risks are heightened by the complexities and dynamics of Indigenous groups entering into agreements and an imbalance of power and resources between the group and a mining company.
This factsheet explores one of the key corruption risks we identified in our research into the mining approvals process in Queensland and Western Australia.