Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
1. The Parliament should establish a Human Rights Committee of members with relevant expertise and such a committee should conduct a public inquiry into the benefits to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider Australian community of international Indigenous awareness and co-operation; and how to involve Australia and its citizens, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in this burgeoning field of international relations. Subject to the establishment of a Human Rights Committee, the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade should conduct such an inquiry.
2. That the Federal Government provide the mandate and resources for an independent Aboriginal international Indigenous watch organisation. This could either take place through an expansion of the Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, or could be established as an independent specialist NGO.
3. A workshop on Indigenous marine policy issues and needs bringing Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal representatives together with such overseas peoples as Coastal Sami, Inuit, and Indian First Nations of Canada's Pacific coast, and South Pacific peoples, should be held. The workshop would also consider the usefulness and feasibility of an ongoing international Indigenous marine network of peoples and organisations.
4. ATSIC, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner should consult with Indigenous organisations to develop a priority list of urgently required international comparative studies on issues identified in this report and elsewhere including macro- and micro-constitutional reform; regional agreements; inter-governmental relations internal to nation-states in respect of Indigenous policy and programmes; self-government; land and sea rights; and Indigenous management of territory and resources.
5. In respect of recommendation number 4 above, a fund should be established under the joint management of ATSIC, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner for the carrying out of international comparative research on these and other urgent Indigenous policy issues.