Target 15: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people maintain a distinctive cultural, spiritual, physical and economic relationship with their land and waters
15a: By 2030, a 15 per cent increase in Australia’s landmass subject to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s legal rights or interests.
15b: By 2030, a 15 per cent increase in areas covered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s legal rights or interests in the sea.
Target measures
Measures
- Proportion (%) of land mass subject to First Nations people's legal rights or interests, over time.
- Square kilometers of land mass subject to First Nations peoples' legal rights or interests.
Data periods
- 2022
- Time trend data: 3-year period (2020 to 2022, as at 30 June).
Data sources
Native Title Determinations Outcomes; Indigenous estate, via the Productivity Commission website (PC 2023; NNTT 2023).
Region types
Main structures: Australia, states and territories.
Suppression
Measure based on publicly available data with no further suppression rules applied.
Notes
- Land under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal rights or interests includes:
- Determinations of native title – land subject to a determination that native title exists exclusive or non-exclusive
- Indigenous estate – land grants under various land rights regimes of the states and territories and the Commonwealth.
- Land area is in square kilometres (sq km) and has been calculated using GDA2020 (EPSG 7844). Pre-2016 areas are calculated using Australian Albers projection (EPSG 3577).
- Proportion of land area is based on jurisdiction area sourced from Geoscience Australia (1993). For further information see Land areas of Australia – States and Territories.
- Data for the ACT includes Jervis Bay.
Measures
- Proportion (%) of sea country subject to First Nations peoples’ legal rights or interests, over time.
- Square kilometers of sea country covered by First Nations peoples' legal rights or interests in the sea.
Data periods
- 2022
- Time trend data: 3-year period (2020 to 2022, as at 30 June).
Data source
Native Title Determinations Outcomes; Indigenous estate, via the Productivity Commission website (PC 2023; NNTT 2023).
Region types
Main structures: Australia, states and territories.
Suppression
Measure based on publicly available data with no further suppression rules applied.
Notes
- Sea area is in square kilometres (sq km) and is based on approximate jurisdiction areas sourced from maritime boundaries spatial data, Geoscience Australia 2006 (AMB 6th Edition).
- Commonwealth jurisdiction area only consists of that area from the 3NM Limit out to the Exclusive Economic Zone surrounding the mainland states and territories. It does not include the area surrounding the islands of McDonald & Heard, Christmas, Macquarie, Norfolk, Cocos (Keeling) or the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Reference material
National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) (2023), National Native Title Tribunal, NNTT website, accessed 22 November 2023.
Productivity Commission (PC) (2023), Socioeconomic outcome area 15, Productivity Commission website, accessed 3 October 2023.
