(1) Subject to subsection (2), if a previous non - exclusive possession act (see section 23F) is attributable to the Commonwealth:
(a) to the extent that the act involves the grant of rights and interests that are not inconsistent with native title rights and interests in relation to the land or waters covered by the lease concerned, the rights and interests granted, and the doing of any activity in giving effect to them, prevail over the native title rights and interests but do not extinguish them; and
(b) to the extent that the act involves the grant of rights and interests that are inconsistent with native title rights and interests in relation to the land or waters covered by the lease concerned:
(i) if, apart from this Act, the act extinguishes the native title rights and interests--the native title rights and interests are extinguished; and
(ii) in any other case--the native title rights and interests are suspended while the lease concerned, or the lease as renewed, re - made, re - granted or extended, is in force; and
(c) any extinguishment under this subsection is taken to have happened when the act was done.
Exclusion of certain acts
(2) If the act is the grant of a pastoral lease or an agricultural lease to which paragraph 15(1)(a) applies, this section does not apply to the act.
(3) If this section applies to the act, sections 15 and 22B do not apply to the act.