The High Court of Australia has handed down its first decision on compensation payable under the federal Native Title Act 1993 ("Act"). The case is Northern Territory v Mr A. Griffiths (deceased) and Lorraine Jones on behalf of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali Peoples [2019] HCA 7 (13 March 2019).

The High Court has confirmed that just terms compensation payable under the Act for extinguishment of native title non–exclusive rights should be divided into three components—economic loss, simple interest, and cultural loss. The amount awarded in this instance was $2.53 million. Cultural loss was $1.3 million of this amount.