Terminology and abbreviations

Common terminology and abbreviations for Crown land management.

• Crown Land Management Act 2016 (CLM Act): The Crown Land Management Act 2016 provides a framework for the NSW Government, local councils and members of the community to work together to provide care, control and management over Crown reserves.
• Crown Land Management Regulation 2018 (CLM Regulation): The Crown Land Management Regulation 2018 explains how parts of the Crown Land Management Act 2016 are carried out, giving Crown land managers, tenure holders and users clarity and certainty. The Regulation covers a range of operational matters relevant to Crown land managers and ensures that Crown reserves are responsibly managed while still encouraging public use and enjoyment of the land.
• Crown land manager or CLM: the name given to a legal entity appointed to manage a Crown reserve
• Statutory land manager: a legal entity established by the Crown Land Management Act 2016 so that individuals as members of a board and administrators can manage Crown reserves.
• Community engagement strategy: a document approved by the minister that sets out the minimum requirements for engaging with the community on certain proposed activities on Crown land such as sale, leasing and licensing.
• Category 1 non-council Crown land manager or category 1 manager: A Category 1 non-council Crown land manager is a land manager that has shown advanced governance and expertise in Crown land management. This includes organisations like the NSW Crown Holiday Parks Land Manager (Reflections) and Metropolitan Memorial Parks Land Manager.
• Category 2 non-council Crown land manager or category 2 manager: a Crown land manager that is not a local council and is not assigned as a category 1 manager.
• Plan of management: a document that defines the value, use, management practices and intent for the broad public purpose for which the land has been reserved or dedicated.
• Appointment instrument: a document that sets out the terms and conditions of a Crown land manager’s appointment.
• Crown Reserves Improvement Fund: the name of the funding program that replaces the Public Reserves Management Fund to provide financial support for the development, maintenance and improvement of Crown reserves and freehold showgrounds.
• Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (ALR Act): The Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) is important legislation that recognises the rights of Aboriginal people in NSW. Aboriginal Land Councils constituted under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 in NSW can claim land as compensation for historic dispossession of land and to support Aboriginal communities’ social and economic development.
• Aboriginal Land Council (ALC): The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) oversees the network of 120 Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) that represent the many Aboriginal communities across NSW. NSWALC is an independent statutory corporation constituted under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983. NSWALC’s statutory functions include both the compliance, regulation and financial stewardship of the state’s land council network.
• Aboriginal Land Agreements (ALA): The Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 allows the NSW Government and Local Aboriginal Land Councils to enter into voluntary and legally binding agreements to resolve land claims, reducing the need for costly and lengthy land claim determinations. These are called Aboriginal Land Agreements.
• Native title: Native title is how Australian law recognises the rights and interests that Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders hold in land and waters under their traditional laws and customs. Native title is recognised and protected by the Native Title Act 1993, which also establishes the ways in which future dealings affecting native title may proceed.
• Native title manager: a person who has undertaken approved training and is employed or engaged by either a local council or category 1 Crown land manager to ensure dealings with their Crown reserves comply with native title legislation.
• Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA): An Indigenous Land Use Agreement is a voluntary agreement between native title parties and other people or bodies about the use and management of areas of land and/or waters.
• Reserve trust: a defunct term for Crown reserve trust set up under the Crown Lands Act 1989.

Over time, courts have provided some guidance on the definition of terms surround the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) and the assessment of Aboriginal land claims.

Lawful use and/or occupation

• Lawful: The term lawful means the activity being conducted on the claimed land at the date of claim was being conducted with the appropriate authority to do so. For instance, if the activity required the approval of the reserve trust, then that approval had been granted.
• Lawful use: Lawful use of claimed lands occurs when the use is to more than a notional degree. The level required to demonstrate the use is more than notional will depend on the purpose for which the land is reserved. For example, a reserve for public recreation would be expected to have a higher level of use than a reserve for tree plantation. The use of the land needs to be consistent with the reserve purpose; for a purpose that is in furtherance of or ancillary to the reserve purpose; or an authorised secondary interest. The use needs to be actual, not just contemplated or intended.
• Lawful occupation: Lawful occupation encompasses legal possession, conduct amounting to actual possession and some degree of permanence. It involves an element of control, of preventing or being in a position to prevent the intrusion of strangers. Continuous physical presence on every part of the land is not required; however, some physical occupancy is required. Mere activities of maintenance in isolation are insufficient.

Needed or likely to be needed for an essential public purpose

• Needed: Needed means required or wanted. Where lands are needed for an essential public purpose, a manifestation of political will is required to establish need. Where lands are likely to be needed for an essential public purpose, the question is whether it is likely that there will in the future be a government requirement; and if this is addressed by considering a trajectory, then the trajectory needs to be towards a requirement at the appropriate government level at the specified time in the future.
• Likely: There is a high probability of something occurring. It is not a remote chance, there is a real chance. A high evidentiary standard must be reached to prove a likely need for an essential public purpose due to the beneficial nature of the legislation.
• Essential public purposes: Essential public purposes are those that are required and created by the government, or purposes of the administration of the government. To be essential, the purpose must be indispensable, or at least material and important. The use of the word essential sets a high standard. Public purposes may be served by private interests. Purposes carried out under statutory authority or requirement, for example, the Local Government Act 1993 (shire councils), can be public purposes.