Owen and Daniel Karpany were prosecuted for taking 24 undersized abalone in 2009, but the Magistrates Court found they were entitled to the catch as Native Title holders.
The state government appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which found that the Fisheries Management Act in 1971 had extinguished their Native Title rights.
Now the full bench of the highest court in the land has confirmed that the state Act cannot override the Commonwealth's Native Title provision, and the men were allowed to exercise their customary right to collect shellfish to feed their families.
The State Attorney General is examining the ruling to assess its wider implications, meanwhile Owen Karpany told Karen Ashford it's vindication which allows Aboriginal people to access increasingly scarce resources.
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