Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
1. That recognition of the unique place of Indigenous peoples in contemporary Australia be a fundamental principle in any national constitutional review and revision, and that this include recognising the right of Indigenous peoples to represent ourselves in negotiation of constitutional change with governments.
2. That the Federal Government, in consultation with the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, ATSIC, the Constitutional Centenary Foundation and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner establish structures and processes of constitutional reform and national renewal which are building towards the new millennium and the centenary of the Constitution in 2001.
3. That Indigenous constitutional structures and processes provide for access by all sections of the Indigenous community through consultations and public forums to the development of positions of negotiations with governments. This will require sufficient resources for the preparation of information and consultation materials, as well as the equitable funding of forums or groups for the expression of diverse views.
4. That structures and processes for Indigenous constitutional recognition and reform be directed not only to achieving specific rights but to continuing processes for the renewal of relations between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
Regional Agreements
The term regional agreement is being used increasingly in Australia, although seemingly with much confusion and controversy. Basically, it involves the concept of equitable and direct negotiations between Indigenous peoples, governments and other stakeholders in a region to recognise the rights of Indigenous peoples and to protect them in a contemporary legal system. There is no pre-ordained form which a regional agreement should take. Rather, it is a means for Indigenous peolles to define our own solutions and obtain legal, administrative, and political recognition for such definitions. A working definition might be:
A regional agreement is a way to organise policies, politics, administrtion, and/or public services for or by an Indigenous peole in a defined territory of land (or of land and sea).
The only firm requirement is that there is a region. What one chooses to organise within that region, and the way in which one chooses to organise it, is up to the Indigenous people alone, or the Indigenous people together with others who have power and resources for or in the region.
Australian Indigenous peoples have extensive experience in negotiating in a range of contexts, for example resource agreements (such as the agreement between the Jawoyn people and the Zappopan mining company in the Northern Territory), speific land claims, the joint management by Kowanyana community in Cape York Peninsula), and management of service delivery 1. What is required now is thea ctive support of the Federal Government so that Indigenous organisations and communities can develop more comprehensive and equitable regional strategies which extend beyond these ad hoc arrangements.