Resources and publications
Title | Author /s | Summary | Date | Tag(s) | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
25 years since the Mabo decision: the advancement of PBCs in the Torres Strait and the challenges we face | Doug Passi, Mr Lui Ned David, Ms Garagu Kanai | The panel discussed the progress that PBCs in the Torres Strait region have made since the Mabo decision and highlights certain milestone achievements of their struggles. |
NNTC (National Native Title Council), PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate) | Presentation | |
A corporation's rulebook: What you need to know | Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations | Summary of what information must be included in a rulebook for corporations registered under the CATSI Act. |
Constitutions, ORIC, Rule book | Information Sheet | |
A guide to writing good governance rules for PBCs and RNTBCs | Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations | This guide complements the Rule book info kit and is for prescribed bodies corporate (PBCs) and Registered Native title bodies corporate (RNTBCs) who have extra responsibilities under the Native Title Act 1993. It describes some of the important issues that need to be considered when writing rules for these types of corporations. It also suggests some specific rules. It is designed for PBCs, RNTBCs and groups intending to hold or manage native title. |
CATSI Act, Constitutions, ORIC, Rule book | Information Sheet | |
APONT Independent Director Guide | Aboriginal Governance and Management Program (APONT) | Factsheet about having independent directors on the board. |
Directors, Independent directors | Information Sheet | |
Australian Institute of Company Directors | Australian Institute of Company Directors | The Australian Institute of Company Directors is committed to excellence in governance. They are involved in governance education, director development and advocacy. They have a membership of more than 40,000 including directors and senior leaders from business, government and the not-for-profit sectors. Their website contains a range of resources for directors as well as information about training courses. |
Directors, Governance | Website | |
Caring for country and sustainable Indigenous development: Opportunities, constraints and innovation | John Altman, Peter Whitehead | This paper explores how Indigenous community-based natural resource management can generate both conservation benefit and economic development opportunity. We begin by noting that much of the Indigenous estate in north Australia is either thinly populated or unpopulated. There is emerging evidence that, in situations where Indigenous people live on their country, ecological and wider benefits are generated via favourable fire regimes, control over weed infestations, and potentially through feral animal harvesting. When people are on country, they generate economic benefit for themselves by harvesting wildlife for consumption and engage with the market sector by using natural resources in commercial enterprise like arts and crafts production. We argue that there is a strong correlation between such activities and cost-effective natural resource management. Links between landcare, wildlife use and biodiversity conservation need to be recognized, celebrated and supported. The removal of many barriers to enhanced and innovative Indigenous participation in such activities, and equitable public support through programs like Landcare, will facilitate sustainable economic development options that are compatible with Indigenous priorities, while ameliorating Indigenous disadvantage. |
CAEPR, Caring for Country, Commercial development, Community development, Environment, Fire, Land and sea management | Article / paper | |
Constitutions Resource Centre | Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona | The Native Nations Institute’s web-based Constitutions Resource Center (CRC) brings together extensive research on Indigenous constitutions, examples of the constitutional changes that Native nations are making, and videos of Native leaders and other governance experts talking about constitutional change. The site provides Native nations with access to a comprehensive set of tools and Native nation examples that can be helpful in the process of constitutional reform. |
Constitutions, Governance | Website | |
Contested Governance: Culture, power and institutions in Indigenous Australia | Janet Hunt, Diane Smith, Stephanie Garling, Will Sanders (eds) | This collection of papers examines the dilemmas and challenges involved in the Indigenous struggle for the development and recognition of systems of governance that they recognise as both legitimate and effective. |
CAEPR, Governance, Indigenous knowledge, Leadership | Book | |
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 | |
Duties of Directors and other Officers | Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations | Outlining the roles and responsibilities of directors and officers for corporations under the CATSI Act. |
Directors, ORIC | Information Sheet | |
Emerging Issues in Land and Sea Management | Dermot Smyth, Rod Kennett, Tran Tran, Acacia Prince-Pike, Melanie Dulfer-Hyams | Report of a workshop held on Wednesday 4th June 2014 at the National Native Title Conference, Coffs Harbour, NSW, to map current and future research and resource needs for land and sea management. |
AIATSIS, Fishing, Land and sea management, NNTC (National Native Title Council), Water | 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 | |
Gender and generation in native title: Director demographics and the future of prescribed bodies corporate | Geoff Buchanan | While gender and age are often noted as being important dimensions of Indigenous leadership and governance, they have rarely been examined in detail. This paper focuses specifically on the gender and age of directors on the boards of prescribed bodies corporate (PBCs), the corporations established to hold and/or manage native title rights and interests. A predominant view persists of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women as excluded or marginalised in native title. Statistical data for the year 2011–12 reveals, however, that women’s representation on PBC boards is higher than that found in mainstream sectors, while the literature reveals a complex picture of cultural, historical, demographic, institutional and intercultural factors that influence men’s and women’s participation and power in the native title arena. A key generational concern is the relatively low number of older people and the growing number of young people in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. Viewed in relation to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population and projected changes, the pool of potential PBC directors looks likely to grow in coming years. This paper argues that, as an increasingly significant sector, PBCs have the potential to both contribute to and benefit from the strengthening of community capacity but this potential will not be realised until the constraints on the capacity of PBCs to meet their statutory obligations and pursue native title holder aspirations are addressed. |
Directors, Leadership, PBCs (Prescribed Body / Bodies Corporate), Youth | Article / paper | |
How to adopt condensed rules under the CATSI Act | Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations | Steps to adopting the condensed rules under the CATSI Act |
CATSI Act, Constitutions, ORIC, Rule book | Information Sheet | |
Independent director guide | Aboriginal Governance and Management Program | This guidebook provides information on how to select independent directors for the Aboriginal boardroom. |
Board, Directors, Members, ORIC | 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 Community Governance Project: Year Two Research Findings | J. Hunt and D.E Smith | This is the second research report by the Indigenous Community Governance Project (ICGP). The ICGP is exploring the nature of Indigenous community governance in Australia - to understand what works, what doesn’t work, and why. The first report, based on 2005 fieldwork, was published as CAEPR Working Paper No. 31/2006. This report brings together findings from the fieldwork conducted during 2006, based on evidence drawn from case studies of Indigenous governance in action within differing community, geographical, cultural and political settings across the nation. |
CAEPR, Governance | Report | |
Innovating to Succeed Forum | Aboriginal Governance and Management Program (APONT) | In 2017 the APONT Aboriginal Governance & Management Program facilitated a NT-wide forum for senior managers and board members of NT Aboriginal organisations, bringing them together to network and share stories to strengthen and build their capacity in management and governance. This report provides an overview of the presentations from this forum. |
Capacity building, Constitutions, Directors, Governance, Rule book, Staff | Report | |
Let’s talk about success: exploring factors behind positive change in Aboriginal communities | Janet Hunt | This paper draws on interviews with leaders of successful Aboriginal organisations to understand the factors behind the successes that they are achieving in their communities. |
CAEPR, Community development, Making it work | Article / paper |