City of Perth, Western Australia

The Australian government is to appeal against a Federal Court ruling which gave Aborigines native land rights to the city of Perth. The Noongar people were given back 6,300 sq km of land which was taken away from them at the beginning of the 1800s. From Sydney, here's the BBC's Nick Bryant:

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The state government of Western Australia, of which Perth is the capital, had already announced it would mount a legal challenge. Now the federal government has weighed in as well, despite warnings from Aboriginal leaders that its intervention could sour race relations.

In announcing the move, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the ruling created great uncertainty and set a dangerous precedent, especially with legal proceedings pending over Aboriginal land claims in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and the capital, Canberra. Mr Ruddock also raised the possibility that non-indigenous people in Perth could be blocked from using open spaces, parks and beaches -- a suggestion dismissed by Aboriginal leaders as groundless scaremongering.

Nick Bryant, BBC, Sydney

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ground-breaking
something that's never been done or has never happened before

metropolitan
city

indigenous people
people who have always been in a country and didn't arrive there from somewhere else - here, Aborigines are indigenous to Australia

mount a legal challenge
plan and organise a case to fight against a court decision

weighed in
got involved in the argument, expressed a strong opinion

sour race relations
spoil and make things more difficult between people of different colours, religions and backgrounds

set a dangerous precedent
here, started a new official way of doing things which can be used again for similar cases in the future, possibly making things very difficult for non-indigenous people

pending
not decided, finalised, completed yet

blocked
stopped, prevented

groundless scaremongering
deliberately frightening and worrying lots of people with ideas or suggestions that aren't true

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