State of the Native Title Sector 2026

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The State of the Native Title Sector report is the first in a new biennial series, which seeks to provide a snapshot of the native title sector by bringing together the wide range of publicly available data into one place. It provides the evidence base for policy and legislative reform and coordination across the sector, including data on sector profitability, lending to PBCs, financial investments and staffing.

This report tells a story of a sector at a turning point. Native title has now been recognised across almost half of the nation. The institutions that exercise these rights, Prescribed Body Corporates (PBCs), are growing fast and becoming an important part of the Indigenous economy. But that growth isn’t evenly shared: a small number of Large PBCs hold most of the sector’s capacity, while many smaller PBCs remain under-resourced.

In addition, the systems around native title have not kept pace with the needs of Traditional Owners. Compensation is still a developing area of native title law, with benefits capped well below the value extracted from native title land. The Future Acts process continues to impose a high burden on native title holders without a faster process for proponents in return. This report sets out where the sector has built real strength, and where the next wave of reform and support needs to go.