Since the passage of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) and related law reform, legal rights and interests in a significant and growing estate have been transferred to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups around Australia. As Jon Altman and Francis Markham explain in their contribution to this edited collection, this estate now comprises more than thirty per cent of the continent, and includes areas with significant mineral deposits as well as other economic development opportunities. Yet frustrations with the native title system remain so strongly felt that the subtitle of this collection – native title as 'a vehicle for change and empowerment' – is presented here in the form of a question. Offering diverse perspectives from legal practitioners and academics, this collection asks why such change and empowerment has proved so difficult to achieve, and what might be done to improve the system.