Reconciliation, Peacebuilding and Indigenous Peoples in Australia

Abstract

The Australian Constitution that ‘created’ Australia as a nation in 1901, prevented the new Australian Commonwealth government from legislating on Indigenous Affairs, a power the Constitution reserved for the lower tier of State governments. In 1967, an Australian Constitutional Referendum was passed, that granted, for the first time power to the Australian Commonwealth governments to legislate on Indigenous Affairs. This chapter examines almost fifty years of Commonwealth government involvement in Indigenous Affairs. Specifically, the chapter examines Commonwealth government involvement in Indigenous rights, including self-determination, land rights and native title. The chapter argues that, overwhelmingly, the Commonwealth governments have failed to genuinely acknowledge and recognise these rights.

Professor Andrew Gunstone, Department of Indigenous Studies, Swinburne University, Australia; Email: agunstone@swin.edu.au. His research interests include the politics of reconciliation and the history of stolen wages. His recent books include Developing Sustainable Education in Regional Australia (2014) (ed.) (Monash Publishing), Reconciliation in Regional Australia: Case Studies from Gippsland (2012) (ed.) (Australian Scholarly Publishing [ASP]), A Decade of Despair: The Howard Government and Indigenous Affairs (2010) (ed.) (ASP), The Government Owes a Lot of Money to Our People: A History of Indigenous Stolen Wages in Victoria (2009). He is the Founder and Editor of the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues.