12Grants of land to Land Trusts

#### 12 Grants of land to Land Trusts (1) Subject to this section, on the receipt of a recommendation under section 10, 11 or 11B with respect to land, the Governor‑General may: (a) in the case of a recommendation under subsection 10(1) or (2A), section 11 or 11B, not being a recommendation that includes a recommendation under subsection 11(5)—execute a deed of grant of an estate in the land in accordance with the recommendation and deliver it to the grantee; (aa) in the case of a recommendation under section 11 that includes a recommendation under subsection 11(5)—execute a deed of grant of an estate in the land in accordance with the recommendation and, if the Governor‑General is satisfied that the condition specified in the recommendation has been complied with, deliver it to the grantee; or (b) in the case of a recommendation under subsection 10(2) or (2B)—execute a deed of grant of an estate in the land in accordance with the recommendation and deliver it to the Land Council referred to in the recommendation on the condition that it be held by the Land Council in escrow, and subsequently delivered to the grantee, in accordance with the recommendation. (1AA) Subject to this section, on the receipt of a recommendation under subsection 10(2AB) with respect to land, the Governor‑General may execute a deed of grant of an estate in fee simple in that land to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust. (1AB) If: (a) a deed of grant of an estate in fee simple in land is executed under subsection (1AA); and (b) the Minister is satisfied that: (i) a lease under section 19 granted by the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust to the Director has been varied to cover the whole of that land; and (ii) the variation is expressed to take effect on the date that a deed of grant of an estate in fee simple in that land to that Land Trust is delivered to that Land Trust; then the Governor‑General may deliver that deed of grant to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust. (1AC) Subject to this section, on the receipt of a recommendation under subsection 10(2AC) with respect to land, the Governor‑General may execute a deed of grant of an estate in fee simple in that land to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust. (1AD) If: (a) a deed of grant of an estate in fee simple in land is executed under subsection (1AC); and (b) the Minister is satisfied that subsection (1AH) applies; then the Governor‑General may deliver that deed of grant to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust. (1AH) This subsection applies if: (a) the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust has entered into a lease, under section 19A, covering the whole of the Jabiru town land; and (b) the lease is expressed to take effect on the date that a deed of grant of an estate in fee simple in that land to that Land Trust is delivered to that Land Trust. (1AI) If a deed of grant is delivered to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust under subsection (1AB) or (1AD), subsection (2A) applies to the estate in fee simple in the land held by the Director, but does not apply to any other estate or interest in the land held by the Director. > Note: Subsection (2A) has the effect that the estate in fee simple in the land held by the Director ceases to exist at the time the deed of grant takes effect. (1A) Where the Governor‑General, pursuant to a recommendation made under subsection 10(2A) or (2B) or 11(1B), executes a new deed of grant or new deeds of grant under this section in lieu of an existing deed of grant and delivers that new deed of grant or each of those new deeds of grant to a Land Trust or to a Land Council in accordance with this section then, with effect from the date of delivery of that new deed or of each of those new deeds to that Land Trust or to that Land Council: (a) that existing deed of grant shall be taken, by force of this subsection, to have been revoked; (b) any Land Trust that had been established to hold land to which that existing deed of grant related, being a Land Trust established to hold only areas of land to which the new deed of grant relates or the new deeds of grant relate and not being a Land Trust the boundaries of which have been varied, shall be taken to be dissolved; (c) any right, title or other interest in an area of land to which the existing deed of grant related is preserved as a right, title or interest in that area in the new deed of grant or in such of the deeds of grant as relate to that area; and (d) any reference in any document to the existing deed shall be read as a reference to the new deed or to the new deeds, as the case requires. (1B) Any agreement in respect to an area of land that is entered into by a Land Trust that has been dissolved shall have the same force and effect, with effect from the date of dissolution of the Land Trust, as the agreement would have had if it had been entered into by the Land Trust that, after the dissolution of the first‑mentioned Land Trust held the land or by each of the Land Trusts that, after the dissolution of the first‑mentioned Land Trust, held part of the land, to which the agreement related. (2) A deed of grant under this section shall be expressed to be subject to the reservation that: (a) the right to any minerals existing in their natural condition, or in a deposit of waste material obtained from any underground or surface working, on or below the surface of the land, being minerals all interests in which are vested in the Commonwealth, remains with the Commonwealth; (b) the right to any minerals existing in their natural condition, or in a deposit of waste material obtained from any underground or surface working, on or below the surface of the land, being minerals all interests in which are vested in the Northern Territory, remains with the Northern Territory; and (c) rights to explore for minerals, and leases or licences to mine for minerals, on or below the surface of the land may be granted under section 124 of the Lands Acquisition Act 1989. (2AAA) Where a deed of grant executed before the commencement of the Lands Acquisition Act 1989 is expressed to be subject to a reservation that rights to explore for minerals, and leases or licences to mine for minerals, on or below the surface of the land may be granted under subsections 51(1A) and 53(2A) of the Lands Acquisition Act 1955, that reservation has effect on and after the commencement of the Lands Acquisition Act 1989 as if it were a reservation to the effect that such rights, leases or licences may be granted in accordance with section 124 of the Lands Acquisition Act 1989. (2AA) For the purposes of the operation of subsection (2), any interest in minerals vested in a person, other than the Commonwealth or the Northern Territory, shall be disregarded, and any reservation inserted in a deed of grant in accordance with that subsection is subject to such an interest. (2A) Where a deed of grant under this section relating to land in a Commonwealth reserve under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 takes effect at a particular time, any estate or interest that, immediately before that time, was held by the Director in that land ceases to exist. (2AB) If a deed of grant is delivered to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust under subsection (1AD), then, at the time the deed of grant takes effect, the lease of the Jabiru town land by the Director to the Jabiru Town Development Authority ceases to exist. (2B) The delivery of a deed of grant under this section in respect of: (a) any land described in Schedule 1 under the heading of “Alligator Rivers (No. 1)” or “Alligator Rivers (No. 2)”; or (b) any land described in Schedule 1 under the heading “Kakadu”; not being land constituting, or forming part of, the land described in Schedule 2 known as the Ranger Project Area, is subject to the condition that the Land Council in the area of which the land is situated shall enter into an agreement with the Director under which the Land Council agrees to direct the Land Trust concerned to grant a lease of the land, or such part of the land as the Director specifies, to the Director, being a lease the terms and conditions of which are set out in the agreement, so as to enable the Director to hold the land for the purposes of Division 4 of Part 15 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. (2C) The delivery of a deed of grant under this section in respect of any land described in Schedule 1 under the heading “Uluru” is subject to the condition that the Land Council in the area of which the land is situated shall enter into an agreement with the Director under which the Land Council agrees to direct the Land Trust concerned to grant a lease of the land to the Director, being a lease the terms and conditions of which are set out in the agreement, so as to enable the Director to hold the land for the purposes of Division 4 of Part 15 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. (3) A deed of grant under this section in respect of land that is not Schedule 1 land: (a) shall identify any land on which there is, at the time of the execution of the deed of grant, a road over which the public has a right of way; and (b) shall be expressed to exclude such land from the grant. (3A) A deed of grant under this section in respect of Schedule 1 land shall be expressed to exclude from the grant: (a) any land on which there was, at the time of the commencement of section 3, a road over which public had, at that time, a right of way; and (b) any land on which there is, at the time of the execution of the deed of grant, a road over which the public has a right of way. (3B) However, subsections (3) and (3A) do not apply to a deed of grant arising from a recommendation under section 11B. (4) A deed of grant under this section takes effect: (a) where a deed is delivered by the Governor‑General to the grantee—on the date on which it is so delivered; or (b) in any other case—on the date on which it is delivered by a Land Council to the grantee in accordance with the condition subject to which it was delivered to the Land Council by the Governor‑General. (5) On the application of a Land Trust to which has been delivered a deed of grant of an estate in land executed by the Governor‑General under this section, whether the delivery was by the Governor‑General or by a Land Council, the Registrar‑General or other appropriate officer under the law of the Northern Territory relating to the transfer of land shall register and otherwise deal with that deed of grant under that law according to its tenor. (6) In this section, a reference to a delivery of a deed by a person shall be read as including a reference to a delivery of the deed by the duly authorized agent of the person. (7) In this section, Schedule 1 land means land that is, or forms part of, an area of land described in Schedule 1.