---
title: "Native title right-to-negotiate (s 31) agreement checklist"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/energy-resources-and-mining/right-to-negotiate-s31-agreement-checklist"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a13-right-to-negotiate-s31-agreement-checklist"
area_id: "A13"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-17"
---

# Native title right-to-negotiate (s 31) agreement checklist

> Step-by-step checklist for the Native Title Act right-to-negotiate process for a mining tenement: notification, timetable, good-faith negotiation, deed terms, arbitral determinations, and safeguards for cultural…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/energy-resources-and-mining/right-to-negotiate-s31-agreement-checklist  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-17

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

Step-by-step checklist for the Native Title Act right-to-negotiate process for a mining tenement: notification, timetable, good-faith negotiation, deed terms, arbitral determinations, and safeguards for cultural information.

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Energy, Resources & Mining](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/energy-resources-and-mining.md)
- Jurisdictions: Australia, Commonwealth
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-17
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-17 against the 7 authorities it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.

## When to use it

Use when a tenement grant attracts the right to negotiate under Subdivision P of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). Do not use where the expedited procedure applies without objection, or where an indigenous land use agreement already covers the act; use the ILUA section instead.

## How AI may be used

AI may keep the statutory timetable and summarise public register entries. Cultural, genealogical and site information must stay out of AI tools unless the native title party has given informed consent and its data protocols are met.

**AI may:**

- Calculate candidate dates from the notification day (3-month, 6-month) for the lawyer to confirm and diarise.
- Summarise public National Native Title Tribunal register extracts into a party and claim table with source references.
- Draft meeting agendas and a negotiation log template from the lawyer's notes.
- Compare a draft deed against this checklist and list missing items.

**AI must not:**

- Must not receive sacred site locations, cultural knowledge, genealogies or confidential meeting records without the native title party's informed consent.
- Must not characterise whether negotiations were in good faith or whether an act attracts the expedited procedure.
- Must not draft benefit amounts or recommend a negotiating position.

**The lawyer checks:**

- The act is one to which Subdivision P applies and no ILUA or approved alternative state regime displaces it.
- Every native title party has been identified from current registers, and the notification day is taken from the notice itself.
- The authorisation and consultation steps required by the RNTBC's rules and the PBC regulations have been followed.
- Any AI use complies with the native title party's data protocols and the firm's confidentiality obligations.

## Authorities

- [Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) s 26 (when Subdivision P applies)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text)
- [Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) ss 29, 30 (notification; persons becoming native title parties within 3 months)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text)
- [Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) s 31 (normal negotiation procedure; good faith)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text)
- [Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) ss 32, 237 (expedited procedure; objections within 4 months of the notification day)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text)
- [Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) s 33 (payments by reference to profits, income or production)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text)
- [Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) ss 35, 36, 36A, 38, 41 (arbitral body and Ministerial determinations; no determination where the applicant failed to negotiate in good faith; effect)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text)
- [Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) Pt 2 Div 3 Subdivs B-D (indigenous land use agreements)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text)

## Official form

[Official form](https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/mining-energy-water/resources/minerals-coal/authorities-permits/applying/native-title/right-to-negotiate)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/energy-resources-and-mining/right-to-negotiate-s31-agreement-checklist and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*