A Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) is a recognised representative body of an Aboriginal Australian people per the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (Vic.), whose function is to protect and manage the Aboriginal cultural heritage in the state of Victoria in Australia.
Registered Aboriginal Parties act as the "primary guardians, keepers and knowledge holders of Aboriginal cultural heritage" in Victoria. [1] [2] [3]
They are the approximate equivalent to land councils (mostly in the Northern Territory) or Aboriginal or Indigenous corporations in the other states. If the body registers a claim with the National Native Title Tribunal under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cwth), they are referred to as a prescribed body corporate (PBC) until such time as a determination is made, when they become a Registered Native Title Body Corporate, or RNTBC, registered with the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cwth). [4] [5] [6]
According to the Department of Premier and Cabinet: [1]
RAPs have responsibilities under the Act relating to the management of Aboriginal cultural heritage, including:
- evaluating Cultural Heritage Management Plans
- providing advice on applications for Cultural Heritage Permits
- making decisions about Cultural Heritage Agreements
- providing advice or application for interim or ongoing Protection Declarations.
Aboriginal people apply to the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council (VAHC), who determines which applicants will be registered as Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs). [1] [7]
As of June 2021 [update] , there are 11 registered parties, covering about 74% of Victoria: [2]
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians have rights and interests to their land that derive from their traditional laws and customs. The concept recognises that in certain cases there was and is a continued beneficial legal interest in land held by Indigenous peoples which survived the acquisition of radical title to the land by the Crown at the time of sovereignty. Native title can co-exist with non-Aboriginal proprietary rights and in some cases different Aboriginal groups can exercise their native title over the same land.
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