John Malcolm Fraser Research Paper

Since the time of federation the Aboriginal people have been fighting for their rights through protests, strikes and the notorious ‘day of mourning’. However, over the last century the Australian federal government has generated policies which manage and restrained that of the Aboriginal people’s rights, citizenships and general protection. The Australian government policy that has had the most significant impact on indigenous Australians is the assimilation policy. The reasons behind this include the influences that the stolen generation has had on the indigenous Australians, their relegated rights and their entitlement to vote and the impact that the policy has had on the indigenous people of Australia.

Another challenge to land ownership was the Tent Embassy on the parliament house lawns. This constant public pressure caused the government to express interest in giving land rights to Aboriginals. This was completed with Justice Woodward’s report in 1974 that recommended that Aboriginal reserves are to be returned to Aboriginal ownership, that Aboriginals had claim to vacant land if they could prove ties with the land, that Aboriginal sacred sites were protected. This was great as it gave power to the Aboriginals. It did however also mean that if they had sacred land that was already owned if not even used would not be returned to them. This was passed in 1976 when the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was passed. Later in 1981 the Northern Territory government opposes land rights and attempts to amend the land rights act to stop claims of owned stations and property.

Born on the 21st of May, 1930, Malcolm Fraser was born in Toorak, Victoria. He was taught in the Melbourne Grammar School, from 1943 to 1948, then was taught in Oxford University, located in London, from 1949. Graduating from Oxford University in 1952, Malcolm Fraser took his career path to becoming a cultivator. He married Tamara Beggs on the 9th of December 1956 and Tamara’s named was changed to Tamie Fraser. They had four children whose names were Mark, born in 1958, Angela, born in 1959, Hugh, born in 1963 and Phoebe, born in 1966. Around the same year as Phoebe was born, Malcolm Fraser was declared the Australian Army Minister, from the 26th of January 1966 to the 28th of February 1983. Being the Australian Army Minister, Malcolm Fraser had argued about the controversial Vietnam War debate. It was about the needs of sending young Australian men, who were under 20 years old were sent to Vietnam.

The evidence for legal changes in the indigenous people’s rights and freedom was the result of the 1967 referendum. The referendum was held to change the Australian Constitution to count the Aboriginal people in census as a part of the Australian population and allow the Commonwealth government make laws to help improve conditions for Aboriginal people no matter where they lived in Australia. As indicated in Source B the white population insisted to vote yes in the referendum and acknowledge indigenous Australians. A change in the law was needed to equalize indigenous Australians and therefore consider them as part of our society. The powers given to the Federal government by this referendum enabled Gough Whitlam to introduce reforms such as indigenous land rights and equality of women.

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

Each example given has also shown how self-determination was and continues to be a major struggle for Aboriginal people. Beginning with the Whitlam government, the Land Rights Act was going to be the national recognition that Aboriginal people had been waiting for, however the swift dismissal of the government and subsequent changes to the bill meant that an uninformed government would dictate claims of Aboriginal land rights. This was continued in the Heritage Protection Act for Western Australia in which no monitoring of abuses of power within the authoritative ministry was assessed; hence damage to heritage sites for the development of industries occurred. Finally the Racial Discrimination Act although making racial discrimination illegal has clearly been violated by the government in the Northern Territory interventions and hence is not valued by Australia despite the international commitments made to recognising Indigenous rights. Although legislation has been introduced to recognise Indigenous rights, there seems to always be a catch. A final reoccurring theme in the legislation discussed is the uninformed views of the non-Indigenous government as decisions are made on behalf of Aboriginal people; hence two major statements were discussed that precisely define Aboriginal self-determination by Aboriginal

Aboriginal people, since British settlement, have faced great inequalities and much racial discrimination on their own soil. Aboriginal Australians through great struggle and conflict have made significant progress in the right to their own land. To better understand the position of the Aboriginal Australians, this essay will go into more depth about the rights that Aboriginal people had to their own land prior to federation. It will also include significant events and key people who activated the reshaping of land rights for Indigenous Australians and how that has affected the rights Aboriginal people now have in the 21st Century, in regards to their land.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I am here to discuss the effects that Neville Bonner had on the land rights and freedoms of aboriginal Australians. Australia has a history of discrimination. This is proven by the amount of effort it took to change the rights of indigenous Australians. One of the most effective aboriginal Australian’s was Neville Bonner, who I will speak about today. Neville Bonner had a significant impact on the rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples due to his involvement in parliament and his determination to live freely as an aboriginal. We will discuss throughout the speech Neville’s background and childhood, the changes he made to the rights of aboriginal peoples and who they impacted, as well as why he decided to make a difference to the lives of aborigines.

“However, Aboriginal people still struggle for more than words on paper. They require the enactment of visible justice, where aboriginal people have a pride of place and heritage that can be shared as well as respected.” (king, 2010, p.216).

In recent Canadian government, Elijiah Harper has been an aboriginal advocate working to create change in the constitutions for Canadian aboriginals.

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

Although many support Mabo in his pursuit of reconciliation, there are still people who have questioned Mabo’s credibility. There have been numerous sources supporting Mabo and casting positive views on his journey to reconciliation, as well as sources contradicting Mabo and questioning his credibility due to his past and other uncertain instances. A number of these uncertain instances include recalling exact conversations shared with his grandfather at the age of six and claiming to own sections of land in a variety of different areas (Australian National University, 2003). While many support Mabo for fighting for Indigenous Rights, others feel more could have been done for Indigenous Rights by the Government. Indigenous activist Noel Pearson states, 'The truth is that the Mabo decision ... was the minimum that could have been given with any decency. Far from giving Aborigines greater rights than other people, it has left them with less.' As well as Hal Wootten who also believes, 'The Mabo decision improved the situation a little. Those few Aborigines who have managed to hold on to their land despite 200 years of expropriation may now have their title protected against anyone except the crown, which can wipe it out with a stroke of the pen, without compensation. The only thing stopping State governments wiping out native title is that it would be racial discrimination which was outlawed by the Commonwealth Parliament in

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.

The high court made a judgement (15) which was Mabo 1992, which attempted to assist the Indigenous people with the act of racial decimation dealt with the injustices that were served by the government. Attempts were made to help the government that was under the rule of Paul Keating, who tried to help with the injustices that both parties were dealing with the RDA. This acknowledged the idea that there were things like native title had been beyond the likeness that some places were either private or public and had ownership which included idea that terra nullius was then wiped out. The opposition at the time was John Hewson with support of John Howard. After the decision was made, Keating was then compelled to act in the face of the high court’s

Assess the impact of the Australian Aboriginal League in improving the rights and freedoms of Aboriginals in Australia