Abstract
Relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as the Indigenous peoples of Australia, and the state underwent a seismic shift in 1992, when the High Court’s Mabo (No. 2) decision acknowledged Indigenous peoples’ pre-existing and continuing rights to their lands and waters as ‘native title’.1 The Commonwealth legislation that followed in 1993, the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA), created corporations that are charged with holding or managing as an agent these communal, group or individual rights and interests on behalf of native title holders.2 This new corporate sector, underwritten by traditional laws and customs, is challenging legal, political and social institutions in Australia to be more responsive to Indigenous political, legal and cultural diversity. Accepting the enduring presence of this diversity within a modern nation state,3 and moving beyond approaches that seek to ignore, marginalise, or discretely ‘resolve’ such diversity, is the required first step to building sustainable networks and institutions for native title governance.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Living with Native Title: the Experiences of Registered Native Title Corporations |
Editors | Toni Bauman, Lisa M. Strelein, Jessica K. Weir |
Place of Publication | Canberra, A.C.T. |
Publisher | AIATSIS Research Publications |
Pages | 1-26 |
Number of pages | 26 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781922102119 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781922102201 |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Keywords
- native title