Resources and publications

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community governance can be greatly impacted by the nature of the land tenure held or managed by the community. The fragmented system of national and state regimes which provide grants or titles of land to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people has enabled a governance landscape where there are often overlapping rights to land. This creates a situation where relationships within an Indigenous community – and even within a traditional owner group – are competing for power and control. This is most notable with respect to how different community organisations compete for community funding, the durability of culturally appropriate governance structures and the taking of natural resources.

The ability of an Indigenous community to resolve potential conflicts, created by the recognition of native title and adapt to the post-determination landscape also impacts upon a communities’ ability to respond to external pressures such as land use planning, water management and government initiated tenure reform processes. Often these conflicts appear between Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate and community or local shire councils – who have historically played the role of land manager and program administrator. This paper looks at the role of cultural governance in supporting the recognition of Indigenous landholdings and the reasons that Indigenous landholdings, in their current form, have failed to be effective in adequately mobilising economic, social and cultural resources to achieve social, cultural, environmental and health benefits in remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Queensland.

This paper presents a case study of an exercise in Aboriginal community governance. It sets out the background events that led the Yawuru Native Title Holders Aboriginal Corporation to secure information for its own needs as an act of self-determination and essential governance, and it presents some of the key findings from that exercise

This paper sets out the methodological and conceptual framework for the Indigenous Community Governance (ICG) Project on Understanding, Building and Sustaining Effective Governance in Rural, Remote and Urban Indigenous Communities. The paper describes the Project’s research aims, questions, and techniques; explores key concepts; and discusses the ethnographic case-study and comparative approaches which form the core components of the methodological framework.

As an applied research project, the paper also considers the methodological issues inherent in participatory research, and for the dissemination and application of research findings within Indigenous and policy arenas. The framework draws on the multi-disciplinary expertise of the project team in areas such as anthropology, political science, demography, policy and legal studies, linguistics, and community development.

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.

This paper discusses how the governance potential of PBCs is challenged by the PBC governance context.

These presentation slides during National Native Title Conference 2015 present the topic, good Indigenous governance and effective native title management: Travelling companions on the road to Self Determination. 

The Two-way Governance Resource has been designed to support and promote two way learning and informed decision making (related to mainstream governance) in remote Aboriginal Communities in the Northern Territory.

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.

The Far West Coast journey from Applicant through to Consent Determination and holding Native Title has been an exciting one. There have been considerable challenges and we have faced many obstacles. Along the way we have also learnt many valuable lessons, not the least that we needed even more change and further development once Native Title was granted and we began a new life as a PBC.

Today, as a young PBC we are on track to be a self-supporting and stand-alone resource for our members. We now have commercial ventures, investments and an Aboriginal Trust that we own and operate. Our presentation seeks to share how we got here and the changes to structures, practices and our organisation to achieve early success as a PBC and a group of entities.

After 15 plus years of native title negotiations there was a lot research information held by the Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC) to be returned to the PBC Robe River Kuruma Aboriginal Corporation (RRKAC). YMAC had developed a best practice process for returning research materials. This presentation highlights this process, the experiences of the PBC and the lessons learned.

The Centre for Native Title Anthropology is giving attention to the role of anthropologists in the post-determination phase. It investigates the methodology and learnings of the CLC community development unit in working with groups and communities in managing income streams from their lands for wider benefit is of considerable potential interest to anthropologists. It offers an illustrative example of the intense, collaborative engagement that is necessary at this intersection of Aboriginal and wider value systems, where monies gained from activities on Aboriginal lands are invested into broader community benefit. For these reasons, there is much to learn which is relevant to the governance of compensation funds held in trust by PBC and other entities (such as those established under mining agreements with Aboriginal groups). The podcast series also investigates the ethical and political issues they all face as anthropologists working with Aboriginal groups on social change in a framework of self-determination.

David Martin interviews Ian Sweeney, the Unit’s Manager, and four of the Project Officers, Dave Howard, Cecilia Tucker, Dianna Newham, and Carl O’Sullivan.

The Indigenous Governance Awards celebrate success in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations nationwide. The awards provide a fantastic opportunity to gain insight into current innovation, practices and understanding of Indigenous governance. An analysis of the top ranked 2014 applicants’ governance solutions are presented in Voices of Our Success: Sharing stories and analysis from the 2014 Indigenous Governance Awards published by the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute and Reconciliation Australia. Here we share an overview of key findings.

This review released in 2014 examines the roles and functions of Native Title Organisations. The Australian Government commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to undertake this review.

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.

In June 2006, representatives from 13 NTRBs met in Canberra to discuss databases and the needs of their organisations for collection management practices. Through this report, a list of ideal fields of information was drawn up along with some guidelines for access of native title material. Several NTRBs have used the information from this workshop to design their own databases.

Sharing Success Governance Workbook is a valuable resource introducing Indigenous community governance concepts, examples of good practices, signs of problems and diagnostic checklists used for a Reconciliation Australia Sharing Success Indigenous governance workshop held in September 2007 in Mt Isa, Queensland. The content of the workbook is drawn from the findings of the Indigenous Community Governance Research Project and analysis of all the Indigenous Governance Award applications. This workbook is an example of one of the very practical tools for Indigenous communities and organisations that has been developed from the Indigenous Community Governance research. 

The Good Governance Principles and Guidance for Not-for-Profit Organisations (Principles and Guidance) have been created by the Australian Institute of Company Directors as part of their commitment to the not-for-profit (NFP) sector and its directors. The Principles and Guidance: • Are designed to promote and facilitate the crucial conversations and associated activities NFP organisations undertake regularly to achieve good governance. • Are not an attempt to formulate rules on what might constitute good governance practice for NFP organisations, or prescribe related behaviours and specific actions.

Sharing Success Governance Workbook is a valuable resource introducing Indigenous community governance concepts, examples of good practices, signs of problems and diagnostic checklists used for a Reconciliation Australia Sharing Success Indigenous governance workshop held in September 2007 in Mt Isa, Queensland. The content of the workbook is drawn from the findings of the Indigenous Community Governance Research Project and analysis of all the Indigenous Governance Award applications. This workbook is an example of one of the very practical tools for Indigenous communities and organisations that has been developed from the Indigenous Community Governance 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.

In April-May 2005, the Native Title Research and Access Officer, Ms Grace Koch conducted a survey of NTRBs to find out about current storage practices and plans for the future of documents that have been either collected or generated by the native title process.