GOVERNMENTS and industry would have to disprove native title exists when a claim is made and claimants and governments would be able to disregard the "bucket loads of extinguishment" created by the Native Title Act under reforms suggested by the Chief Justice of the High Court, Robert French.

Justice French suggested three "modest proposals" to reform the 15-year-old native title process, borrowing the ironic term from the title of an extreme solution to poverty once offered by the satirist Jonathan Swift.

He said there should be a presumption in favour of a claimant's continued connection with traditional lands.

States and territories and other parties would be able to challenge it, but the onus of proof would shift from claimants.

If governments were concerned about an increase in compensation claims, the presumption could be stopped from applying to compensation cases.

The presumption would mean a break in contact with traditional lands - such as when indigenous people were moved off - would not torpedo a claim as it has often done.

"Such a presumption would enable the parties, if it were not to be challenged, to disregard a substantial interruption in continuity of acknowledgement and observance of traditional laws and customs," Justice French said.

The changes would not affect the "skeletal structure of native title law" but would assist the resolution of claims and alleviate the financial burden on claimants, Justice French wrote in an article in the Australian Law Reform Commission journal, launched yesterday.

It is the second time in a fortnight the country's most senior judge, who heard native title cases in the Federal Court, has suggested a new legal avenue for the improved recognition of indigenous rights.

The native title system is under review by the Federal Government because it has failed to deliver on its promises.

In another article, the Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, admitted the system had turned indigenous people against each other and millions in payments had been wasted.

The Government is working to reform native title so that the windfall from resources is invested for future generations.

But Justice French and others suggested reforms yesterday that go beyond what the Government has foreshadowed.