Indigenous Australian self-determination

Indigenous Australian self-determination, also known as Aboriginal Australian self-determination, is the power relating to self-governance by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. It is the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to determine their own political status and pursue their own economic, social and cultural interests. Self-determination asserts that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should direct and implement Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy formulation and provision of services. Self-determination encompasses both Aboriginal land rights and self-governance,[1][2] and may also be supported by a treaty between a government and an Indigenous group in Australia.[3]

From the 1970s to 1990s, the Australian government supported Aboriginal groups moving from large settlements in remote areas back to outstation communities in formerly traditional lands. Also from the early 1970s, Aboriginal communities began running their own health services, legal services, and housing cooperatives.[4]

  1. ^ "Right to self determination". Australian Human Rights Commission. Australian Government. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Aboriginal self-determination and autonomy". Creative Spirits. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Bill 2018". Parliament of Victoria. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  4. ^ Kowal, Emma (2008). "The Politics of the Gap: Indigenous Australians, Liberal Multiculturalism, and the End of the Self-Determination Era – KOWAL – 2008 – American Anthropologist – Wiley Online Library". American Anthropologist. 110 (3): 338–348. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2008.00043.x.