Anthropology and native title: Issues of method, claim group membership and research capacity

Within the legal profession working with the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA), there is significant interest in anthropological expertise relevant to the writing of expert reports, management of disputes among claimant groups and associated claim boundary issues, and the question of why there are insufficient anthropologists to do native title research. The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department has recently conducted a survey, addressed to the anthropology departments at Australian universities and to Native Title Representative Bodies (NTRBs), seeking ideas on the key challenges in attracting and retaining anthropologists. It is considering potential future initiatives in the training of professional researchers and has allocated some funds in its 2009–10 federal budget for measures to increase the quantity and quality of anthropologists working in native title.