Canberra - The Australian government's controversial Native Title Amendment Bill is to go to the senate today. If passed, the result will be "legalised apartheid", says a leading Aboriginal negotiator.
But if the 10-point plan to give farmers and miners assurances about Aboriginal land claims fails in the upper house, a general election could be called. The prime minister, Mr John Howard, wants the legislation passed by Christmas, but the opposition has moved more than 600 amendments.
The problem flows from the 1992 Mabo case in which the high court overturned Captain Cook's doctrine that Australia was an empty land to be claimed for the British Crown.