jan 7, 1988 - The High Court finds the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act contravenes section 10 of the Federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975, and is therefore invalid.

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Under the Constitution, federal acts of parliament take precedence over state acts of parliament.

The decision hinges on the ruling that if native title rights did exist they should be viewed as part of the human right to own and inherit property; therefore the Coast Islands Act unfairly compromised the property rights of people in the Torres Strait.

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