In June 2021, the Canadian Parliament passed ‘An Act Respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2021 (Canada)’, the purposes of which are to affirm the Declaration as a universal international human rights instrument with application in Canadian law, and to provide a framework for the implementation of the Declaration by the Canadian Government. [...] The Act’s objectives are to affirm the application of the Declaration to the laws of British Columbia, to contribute to the implementation of the Declaration, and to support the affirmation of, and develop relationships with, Indigenous governing bodies (British Columbia 2019). [...] This analysis therefore provides a snapshot of progress and failure on the recognition and protection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights and interests at the national level in the four key policy areas: Native title, Closing the Gap, cultural heritage protection, and the Uluru Statement from the Heart. [...] (Wensing and Porter 2016: 98) The challenge for urban policy and planning: is to look at the presence of the peoples, laws and cultures that co-exist in the very places of our practice, look carefully at the concomitant failure of the formal systems of recognition and think about how to respond in a meaningful, imaginative way. [...] Sitting within the portfolio of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), the ILSC contributes to the achievement of the Australian Government’s priorities in Indigenous Affairs and is accountable to the Parliament through the Minister for Indigenous Australians.
- Pages
- 105
- Published in
- Australia
Table of Contents
- Table 1: Historic timeline of national-level Indigenous advisory bodies 1970s to 2020s 32
- Figure 1: Global Indigenous Data Alliance (GIDA FAIR and CARE Principles) 16
- Figure 2: Indigenous Peoples’ rights in data 16
- Figure 3: The Indigenous Estate, at 1 July 2023 21
- Figure 4: Three processes for formal Traditional Owner recognition in Victoria 72
- Figure 5: Formal recognition of Traditional Owner groups in Victoria, August 2019 75
- Figure 6: Strategic framework for stronger relationships and engagement between the Victorian Government and Traditional Owners without formal recognition 76
- Abbreviation and Acronyms 5
- 1. Introduction 8
- 2. International context 10
- International human rights standards 10
- Two key instruments 11
- The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) 11
- Accountability for applying or Incorporating UNDRIP into domestic law 12
- Indigenous data sovereignty (IDS) and governance 15
- Protecting Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Genetic Resources 17
- Conclusion 17
- 3. National context 18
- Introduction 18
- The Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) 18
- Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation 22
- Closing the Gap on Indigenous Disadvantage 25
- First Nations cultural heritage protection reform 28
- Past proposals for recognition and representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 31
- The Uluru Statement from the Heart 33
- An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament 35
- Constitutional Referendum October 2023 36
- Protecting Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) 37
- Conclusion 39
- 4. New South Wales state context 40
- Introduction 40
- The Statutory Framework 41
- The National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW) (NPW) 41
- The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (EP&A Act) 42
- The Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) (ALRA) 45
- The Crown Land Management Act 2016 (NSW) (CLM Act) 46
- Key Policies: the Aboriginal Affairs policy framework 47
- NSW Government’s OCHRE Plan 47
- NSW Closing the Gap Implementation Plans 2021 and 2022 48
- The Urban Policy Planning Framework 50
- Our Place on Country—Aboriginal Outcomes Strategy (OPOC Strategy) 50
- Designing with Country Discussion Paper 51
- Connecting with Country Framework 51
- Recognise Country—Guidelines for Development in the Aerotropolis 51
- The Six Cities Region Discussion Paper and What We Heard Report 52
- Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Protocol 52
- Connecting with Country Framework 53
- Conclusion 53
- 5. Victoria state context 57
- Introduction 57
- The Statutory Framework 58
- The National Parks Act 1975 (Vic) and the Parks Victoria Act 2018 (Vic) 58
- The Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (Vic) and the Aboriginal Heritage Amendment Act 2016 (Vic) 59
- The Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) 61
- The Local Government Act 2020 (Vic) 62
- The Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) 63
- The Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic) 65
- The Yarra River (Wlip-gin Birraraung murron) Act 2017 (Vic) 67
- The Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians 2018 (Vic) 68
- The Treaty Authority and Other Treaty Elements Act 2022 (Vic). 68
- Key policies: the Aboriginal Affairs Policy Framework 69
- The Victorian Government’s Pathway to Treaty 69
- Recognition and Engagement with Traditional Owner Voices across Victoria 71
- The Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Framework (VAAF) and Victorian Government Aboriginal Affairs Reports (VGAAR) 77
- Victoria Closing the Gap Implementation Plan 78
- Victorian Aboriginal and Local Government Strategy and Ministerial Guidance on Engaging with Aboriginal Victorians 79
- The Urban Policy Planning Framework 81
- DELWP’s Munganin–Gadhaba ‘Achieve Together’ DELWP Aboriginal Inclusion Plan 2016–2020 81
- DELWP’s Pupangarli Marnmarnepu ‘Owning Our Future’ Aboriginal Self-Determination Reform Strategy 2020–2025 (2019) 82
- DELWP’s Traditional Owner and Aboriginal Community Engagement Framework (2019) 83
- DELWP’s Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework (2019). 84
- Conclusion 85
- 6. Conclusions 88
- References 92
