Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia

The Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) was a law that changed Indigenous Australian lives forever. The act enabled the New South Wales Board for the Protection of Aborigines to essentially control the lives of Aboriginal people. It was the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) that had major provisions that resulted in the containment and suffering that Aboriginal people endured. This suffering included the practice of forcible removing Indigenous children from their families. These major provisions help us understand what the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) involved and the impact it has had on the daily lives and cultures of Indigenous Australian peoples today.

The rights and freedoms of Aboriginals have improved drastically since 1945 with many changes to government policy, cultural views and legal rules to bring about a change from oppression to equality. Unfortunately on the other hand, some rights and freedoms have not improved at all or have even worsened.

Imagine for a moment, if everything you owned was taken away from you. The Indigenous people of Australia have unfairly been robbed of their land, culture and people. They were among the first people to inhabit this country, and sadly their land and culture are under threat of being lost forever. To the indigenous people, land is an important part of their life, their substance needs and spiritual belief all come from the land. However, we owe the Indigenous people a lack of compensation but then again not giving any back. Therefore, it’s time for us to treat them fairly and give respect to their land.

It creates a land acquisition fund to meet the needs of dispossessed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who would not be able to claim native title. Wik Case 1996 After the Mabo Case resolved the land rights dilemma of Aboriginals, there were unresolved conflicts on the issue of pastoral leases,

In 1976 the Fraser government passed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Several state governments passed their own Land Rights Acts, which recognised aboriginal and Torres Strait islander claims to land and guaranteed them royalty payments from mining companies working there. Some laws enforced by the government became challenging for most indigenous people to abide by. Through the analysis of this information we understand the impacts the government and its laws had towards the indigenous society of

This case and the resulting test were instrumental in defining aboriginal rights. However, it was also very controversial as it confirmed one thing: aboriginal rights are not absolute and this has been highlighted in numerous cases whereby aboriginal rights being denied.

In 1967, a landmark event occurred for the Indigenous Community of Australia. They were no longer declared Flora and Fauna This means that Aboriginal people would be considered a part of the landscape and not humans in their own right.. In 1967, a Referendum was held by all members of Australian society voting on the issue of allowing Indigenous Australian to be a part of the census and thereby able to vote and be counted as part of Australia’s population. This achieved not only citizenship for Aboriginal people, but put the issue of Indigenous Rights on both the political and social platforms. This essay will look at the lead up to the Referendum, how Aborigines and their supporters communicated their belief in their rights to the

The land is a pivotal medium through which the Dreaming is communicated. Hence, when the High Court of Australia ruled that Australia’s land was occupied at the time of British settlement and overturned the notion of ‘Terra Nullius’, deeming it legally invalid, the opportunity was granted for Indigenous Australians to re-establish spiritual links with the land and their cultural

The efficacy and implementation of the Northern Territory Intervention has received wide spread criticism due to the lack of prior consultation with the Indigenous Community leaders as well as the questionable reforms subsequently implemented. Amongst these reforms were the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) (Korff, J, 2016) and forceful leasing of Indigenous land to the commonwealth as documented in The Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act, 2007 (Cth). The Northern Territory Intervention consequently has had numerous negative impacts on the community, “The intervention has had consequences that will have repercussions for generations” (Dodson, 2016)

On June 3rd 1992 The Mabo decision changed lives of Aboriginals all around Australia. It was the first time that Aboriginals where acknowledged as the traditional owners of the land, and their customs and traditions recognised. It also made improvement between the relationship of Aboriginals and Non-aboriginal people. The Mabo decision also led to the declaration of the Native Title Act in 1993. The Native Title Act is the recognition of Aboriginal’s having rights and interests in certain land because of their tradition laws and customs.

Terra Nullius was once apparent in Australian society, but has now been nullified with the turn of the century. With the political changes in our society, and the apology to Indigenous Australians, society is now witnessing an increase in aboriginals gaining a voice in today’s society. Described by Pat Dodson (2006) as a seminal moment in Australia’s history, Rudd’s apology was expressed in the true spirit of reconciliation opening a new chapter in the history of Australia. Considerable debate has arisen within society as to whether aboriginals have a right to land that is of cultural significance and whether current land owners will be able to keep their land.

Aboriginal land claims in Canada are often a topic that while commonly debated, is not often seen at the forefront of politics. This was seen in the recent election, as Justin Trudeau was being sure not to make Aboriginal land claims an election issue, in an attempt to keep the public opinion neutral. Recently, however, more is being said about the land claims. Promises are on the line from our leaders in politics, policies are being reviewed, and the public have a lot to say in regards to how the policies for Aboriginal land claims work currently. Due to the politics, policy, and public opinion stream all having been recently opened up, the window of opportunity to make policy changes on Aboriginal land claims has now opened.

Despite election campaign promises from the Liberal-Country Party coalition that the Bill would be passed without amendment, the new Government of Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser buckled to pressure from mining and pastoral industry groups and conservative politicians in the Northern Territory. He drafted a new bill from which many of the advances of the Whitlam Bill were absent. A national campaign by our newly created Land Councils salvaged a number of key elements, but the final Bill removed needs-based claims and gave to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly responsibility for ‘complementary’ legislation covering sacred site protection, sea closures and permits for access to Aboriginal land.

The 2007 The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) states that ‘Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development’. The right to self-determination is born from the legal and cultural acknowledgement of Indigenous peoples as Australia’s first settlers, and is important in the context of the Australian Legal System. Self-determination may be used by the courts to interpret domestic legislation, as well as

Interest in better forest management, consultation requirements, the protection of Aboriginal and treaty rights, forest certification, and government policies requirements all contribute to the expanding interest in traditional land use. However, collecting knowledge and information about Aboriginal peoples land use, and forest management?s integration has not been straightforward. While recognizing the benefits of this process of information collection, the Aboriginal peoples have been increasingly concerned about the ways in which their knowledge is being utilized. Financers, supporters, and forestry companies are increasingly concerned about guaranteeing access to this data and efficient methods of integrating it into forest planning and management. Traditional land use is a means for governments to protect the interests of land for the Aboriginal peoples but have been apprehensive about their probable impact on their capability of using and controlling access to Crown lands. All parties involved recognized that Traditional Land Use studies have become a vital instrument for Aboriginal peoples striving to declare priori claims to the lands the Aboriginal peoples have variably occupied, and to generate avenues in which the Aboriginal peoples can negotiate roles in the management of the land. In spite of the numerous studies to be developed, there has yet to be a