Resources and publications
Title | Author /s | Summary | Date | Tag(s) | Type |
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Aboriginal assets? the impact of major agreements associated with native title in Western Australia | Sarah Prout Quicke, Alfred Michael Dockery, Aileen Hoath | This report, conducted for the Department of Regional Development, addresses the question of how effective agreements arising from native title determinations are at meeting the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal peoples who have achieved, or are pursuing (through registered native title claims), legal recognition as native title holders. The report research is based on a review of relevant academic and ‘grey’ literature as well as case studies of the experiences of three Western Australian Aboriginal native title groups in their efforts to leverage agreements with government and industry to enhance their wellbeing and pursue their aspirations. |
Agreements, ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement), Mining, Native Title Act, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate), Trusts | Report | |
AIATSIS Submission to review of the CATSI Act: Phase two | Dr Lisa Strelein, Ophelia Rubinich, Casey Millward | Since 2016, AIATSIS has contributed to a number of reviews of the CATSI Act including the Technical Review of the CATSI Act (2017) and CATSI Review Phase 1 (2020). Throughout this report, the AIATSIS researchers refer to the AIATSIS submissions for both of these reviews. |
AIATSIS, CATSI Act, Compliance, Policies, Rule book | Report | |
APONT Independent Director Guide | Aboriginal Governance and Management Program (APONT) | Factsheet about having independent directors on the board. |
Directors, Independent directors | Information Sheet | |
Authorisation and decision-making in native title | Nick Duff | Native title involves an interface between the Australian legal system and Indigenous legal, cultural and political systems. The assertion and management of native title rights involves collective action by sometimes large and disparate groups of Indigenous people. Contentious politics makes such collective action difficult and the courts will often be asked to decide whether group decisions have been validly made. In the last two decades a vast and complex body of law and practice has developed to address this challenge. Authorisation law is a set of principles about how the views and intentions of native title claimants or holders are translated into legally effective decisions. This book sets out the legal rules and their application in various situations: native title claims, native title agreement-making, decision-making by native title corporations, and compensation applications. It also addresses key practical, ethical and political dimensions of native title decision-making. This book will be useful for native title practitioners including lawyers, judges and native title holders. It will also be relevant to academic research into the ethical, political and anthropological dimensions of Indigenous governance. |
Decision making, ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement), Native Title Act, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Book | |
Building Indigenous community governance in Australia: Preliminary research findings | Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research | This is a preliminary research report from the first year of fieldwork conducted by the Indigenous Community Governance Project (ICGP). The Project is exploring the nature of Indigenous community governance in diverse contexts and locations across Australia through a series of diverse case studies—to understand what works, what doesn’t work, and why. A comparative analysis of the Project’s case studies is revealing that governance and decision-making in Indigenous community governance is shaped by multiple historical, cultural and political relationships. Family and governance histories associated with particular communities and sets of regionally-linked communities are central features in community governance dynamics and arrangements. Strengthening Indigenous community governance requires negotiating appropriate contemporary relationships among the different Indigenous people within a region or community, and adapting or creating structures and processes to reflect important relationships. Several dimensions are being identified as being fundamental to building stronger, sustainable governance at the community and regional levels. These are the impact of the wider ‘governance environment’, cultural match and cultural geography, modes of leadership and representation, institutional capacity, organisational design and relationships, representation, decision-making processes, and human resource issues. Capacity development for governance needs to be considered within a systems framework and should be a process that actively strengthens Indigenous decision-making and control over their core institutions, goals and identity, and that enhances cultural match and legitimacy. The report concludes with some emerging issues and implications for policy makers and for Indigenous organisations and their leaders. |
Capacity building, Community development, Decision making, Governance, Leadership, Partnerships | Report | |
Closed and open questions | Aurora | Explanation of closed and open questions. |
Decision making, Meetings | Information Sheet | |
Common types of decision making processes | Aurora | Outlines different methods of decision-making. |
Decision making, Meetings | Information Sheet | |
Decision-making: Constitutions of Prescribed Bodies Corporate | Ashleigh Blechynden | The Prescribed Body Corporate (PBC) research snapshot series has been developed to share findings from the Native Title Research Unit’s (NTRU) investigation into the constitutions and financial reports of PBCs. This research forms part of the PBC Capability project which aims to develop a long-term national picture of the PBC sector. This snapshot examines the decision-making processes identified by PBCs within their constitutions including voting processes, quorum requirements and the use of independent directors. |
CATSI Act, Constitutions, Decision making, Native Title Act, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate), Rule book | Report | |
Ethics workshop | Chrissy Grant | An Ethics Workshop will be held for PBCs and Traditional Owners to be aware of best practice ethical research standards that should be used by researchers when working with Traditional Owners. The workshop will introduce you to the themes and principles outlined in AIATSIS’s Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (GERAIS). Examples and case studies will help you understand how and why the GERAIS principles should be the minimum standards applied to any research on your land and sea country. There is a concern that the PBCs and Traditional Owners are not as familiar with ethical standards as the researchers are and how they should be applied to any research. This seems to be a one-sided conversation. GERAIS will educate and inform PBCs and TOs about ethical standards in research taking place across Indigenous estates – IPAs, Ranger work including compliance and enforcement issues, Indigenous engagement in Government processes and other research as well as Native Title and PBC research. It is so critically important that PBCs and TOs know what to expect from both the researcher and the participants so that they are well informed before they enter into a research agreement. |
Agreements, Ethics, NNTC (National Native Title Council) | Presentation | |
Exercising native title rights and interests | Lisa Eaton | Traditional owners- native title claimants- native title holders- members of a prescribed body corporate. Who holds what native title rights? How can you exercise such rights? Post determination rights and interests are managed through a corporation governed by western laws and values. As is now well documented, this very structure required under the Native Title Act is often at odds with Indigenous decision making structures. This paper will begin to examine post determination issues surrounding the complex and layered network of native title ‘memberships’ and the parameters within which they must operate. There is often a fundamental misunderstanding as to how traditional rights and interests can be exercised and fully leveraged by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In order to effectively manage native title greater clarity is required. |
Decision making, NNTC (National Native Title Council) | Presentation | |
Governance Rules and Policies | Indigenous Governance Toolkit | The topic 'Rules and policies' from the Indigenous Governance Toolkit has six sections,
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Decision making, Governance, Meetings, Policies | Toolkit | |
Governing the Organisation | Indigenous Governance Toolkit | The topic 'Governing the Organisation' from the Indigenous Governance Toolkit has nine sections.
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Decision making, Governance, Leadership, Strategic planning | Information Sheet | |
Guidelines for best practice flexible and sustainable agreement making | AIATSIS Research | This Best Practice Guide is designed to provide practical guidance for government parties on the behaviours, attitudes and practices that can achieve flexible, broad and efficient resolutions of native title. It identifies a range of common factors indicative of successful broader land settlements that may be applied or adapted to the circumstances of particular settlements. |
Agreements, AIATSIS | Guide | |
Independent Directory | ORIC | Independent Directory connects skilled and interested people looking to become an independent director with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations looking to appoint the right independent directors to their boards. It is a free service that allows: *Individuals to register an interest in being an independent director, identifying their experience and skills. *Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations to promote board vacancies. The service finds matches and allows candidates and corporations to initiate contact with each other. Candidates and corporations are in control of how much detail they reveal about themselves to the public and what they show only to their connections. |
Board, Directors, Independent directors, ORIC | Website | |
Indigenous land use agreements (ILUAs) for PBCs | Aurora | This factsheet details the roles and requirements of PBCs entering into Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs). This factsheet provides an overview of the various types of ILUAs as well as some of the legal requirements and processes needed for the future act(s). Please note some of this information may be outdated. |
Agreements, Future acts, ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement), PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Information Sheet | |
Information for PBCs on changes to native title laws and obligations | CATSI Act, Decision making, Dispute management, Exemptible rules, Future acts, ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement), Legal, Native Title Act, Native title holder, PBC Regulations, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate), Reporting | Fact sheet | |||
Karajarri: A West Kimberley Experience in Managing Native Title | Jessica Weir | In 2002 and 2004 Karajarri had their native title rights and interests recognised to over 31,000 square kilometres of land in the West Kimberley, south of Broome. This is an area about half the size of Tasmania. Here there are pastoral stations, mining interests, coastal and desert lands, and the large Aboriginal community of Bidyadanga. Karajarri had one of the first native title determinations to be recognised in the Kimberley and had the first native title application in which applicants were represented exclusively by the Kimberley Land Council. |
Agreements, AIATSIS, Governance, Land and sea management | Article / paper | |
Legal context for PBC decision making | Aurora | Information sheet about decision-making for PBCs. |
Decision making, Governance, Legal, Meetings, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Information Sheet | |
Legal issues in transferring research materials from NTRB/SPs to RNTBCs | Angus Frith | Native title materials created in the process of native title, land claim and cultural heritage work include individual statements, expert reports, genealogies, field notes and other materials. This paper addresses some of the legal issues arising in relation to the transfer of research material from NTRB/SPs to RNTBCs. |
Compliance, ICIP (Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property), Legal, Native title holder, Native title materials, NTRB (Native Title Representative Body), NTSP (Native Title Service Provider), PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Presentation | |
Living with native title: the experiences of registered native title corporations | Toni Bauman, Lisa M Strelein, Jessica K Weir | Much of the attention paid to native title in Australia has focused on court proceedings and other legalities, but what does it actually mean to live with native title? This book presents the experiences of native title holders and the corporations they have established to look after their native title interests. The influence of the renowned High Court Mabo case is such that there are already more than 100 Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate (RNTBCs) across Australia with responsibilities for about 18 per cent of the continent. RNTBCs operate in a profoundly intercultural context where ‘western’ and Indigenous laws are constantly interpreted and negotiated as part of a new suite of landholding and land management practices for contemporary Australia. Through seven case studies from the Torres Strait, Far North Queensland, the Kimberley and Central Australia, Living with native title documents the experiences of RNTBCs, including those that are parties to large mining agreements. Each case study is accompanied by a short update written immediately prior to publication. Living with native title is a product of the AIATSIS research project Prescribed Bodies Corporate: Research Action Partnerships. |
Agreements, AIATSIS, Future acts, ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement), Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous law, Joint Management, Native Title Act, NTRB (Native Title Representative Body), Partnerships | Book |