Presenters

William Oxby, Partner, Johnson Winter & Slattery
William Oxby has practised in the area of native title since 1997. William has worked for 2 years in a native title representative body in Queensland and for the Commonwealth Attorney General in the Native Title Task Force. William has also worked for another 'top tier' law firm for 10 « years before joining Freehills in 2010. William's specialises in assisting energy, resource and infrastructure clients manage their relationships with indigenous communities. Whilst a large part of that work relates to native title and Aboriginal cultural heritage, William also specialises in land access issues more generally as well as the procurement of mining tenement, petroleum tenements and environment and planning approvals.


Vance Hughston SC, Barrister, Sixth Floor Windeyer Chambers
Vance Hughston SC came to the NSW Bar in 1982 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2001. His areas of practice include appellate, commercial, equity, native title, property and administrative law. Mr Hughston has practised extensively as a trial lawyer in native title and in non-native title matters. He has a considerable appellate practice and has argued numerous cases before the High Court, the Full Federal Court, the NSW Court of Appeal and the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia. In more recent years, much of Mr Hughston’s trial and appellate work has been in native title and in related areas of the law. He has a national practice and has appeared for Aboriginal claimants and for Government and other parties, in every State and Territory apart from Tasmania and the ACT. Mr Hughston has argued the following native title cases as leading counsel before the High Court: Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria (2002) 214 CLR 422; Karpany v Dietman [2013] HCA 47; Wilson v Anderson (2002) 213 CLR 401. He has appeared in many other cases in the High Court that have involved the interpretation and the application of Native Title Act, 1993 (Cth) and the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act, 1976 (Cth). In the Yorta Yorta case, Mr Hughston appeared at the trial (which went for more than 100 days) and on the successive appeals to the Full Federal Court and the High Court. Other native title cases in which Mr Hughston has appeared at both the trial and on the subsequent appeal include: Fortescue Metals Group v Warrie on behalf of the Yindjibarndi People (2019) 273 FCR 350; 374 ALR 448; [2019] FCAFC 177 (leave to appeal to the High Court refused); Starkey on behalf of the Kokatha People v South Australia (2018) 261 FCR 183; (leave to appeal to the High Court refused); Banjima People v Western Australia (2015) 231 FCR 456; (leave to appeal to the High Court refused); Bodney v Bennell (2008) 167 FCR 84; CG (Deceased)on behalf of the Badimia People v Western Australia (No.2) (2016) FCAFC 67; Gumana v Northern Territory (2005) 141 FCR 471; Jango v Northern Territory (2007) 159 FCR 531; Risk v Northern Territory (2007) 240 ALR 75; Straits Exploration (Australia) Pty Ltd v Kokatha Uwankara Native Title Claimants [2012] SASCFC 121; Western Australia v Graham on behalf of the Ngadju People (2013) 305 ALR 452; Western Australia v Graham on behalf of the Ngadju People (2016) FCAFC 47; and Wyman v Queensland (2015) 235 FCR 464. Mr Hughston has appeared in other Full Court appeals too numerous to list. He was a member of the Australian Law Reform Committee’s Native Title Inquiry Advisory Committee in 2014 / 2015. The 2022 Doyle’s Guide ranks Mr Hughston as the Market Leader amongst Australia’s native title barristers. The 2022 Chambers Asia-Pacific Guide also accords him its highest ranking (Band 1) amongst Australia’s native title Silks. Mr Hughston is a contributor to Perry and Lloyd’s Australian Native Title Law (2nd Ed.).