Mr McKenna said that the Federal Court aimed to end a logjam of 462 native title claims by attempting to resolve 20 per cent of those in the next two years.
“A number of these long-running matters will have dropped off the radar for some companies who could suddenly find themselves in court,” said Mr McKenna.
“In native title matters, it is not just recent purchases and applications that may have implications; it is purchases and acquisitions over a period of years that may be relevant.
“Therefore we’re potentially going to see lots of parties who have not been paying attention to their case for a decade struggling to figure out whether they still have the interest they once had.”
Mr McKenna advises companies to consider auditing their tenure to see if it is affected.