scholarly journals Self-determination in action: How John Hunter and Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land anticipated official policy in the late 1960s and early 1970s

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Chris Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
Arnhem Land

Political Participation of Aboriginal People (Orang Asli) in Peninsular Malaysia: Examining the Compatibility of the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 with Undrip Standards

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Muhamad Sayuti Hassan ◽  
Rohaida Nordin
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
International Law ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Orang Asli ◽  
The Right

The main objective of this article is to critically evaluate the compatibility of the ‘right to political participation’ of the Orang Asli by looking at international law standards. The present study utilises a qualitative socio-legal approach, which analyses the political participation of the Orang Asli under Malaysian law and determines whether the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 (apa) can provide for the protection, well-being, and the advancement of the Orang Asli. Arguably, the existing provisions of the apa are not in conformity with the recognition in undrip and in no way guarantee the Orang Asli’s right to self-determination as recognised by international law. Thus, the current study recommends an amendment to the apa and introduces guidelines to empower political participation of the Orang Asli by incorporating the principles of undrip. The amendment is necessary to ensure that the protection of the right to self-determination of the Orang Asli is compatible with international law standards.

scholarly journals Working with Aboriginal young people in sexual health research: a peer research methodology in remote Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-28
Author(s):  
Stephen Bell ◽  
Peter Aggleton ◽  
Andrew Lockyer ◽  
Tellisa Ferguson ◽  
Walbira Murray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Community Control ◽  
Remote Setting

In a context of ongoing colonization and dispossession in Australia, many Aboriginal people live with experiences of health research that is done “on” rather than “with” or “by” them. Recognizing the agency of young people and contributing to Aboriginal self-determination and community control of research, we used a peer research methodology involving Aboriginal young people as researchers, advisors, and participants in a qualitative sexual health study in one remote setting in the Northern Territory, Australia. We document the methodology, while critically reflecting on its benefits and limitations as a decolonizing method. Findings confirm the importance of enabling Aboriginal young people to play a central role in research with other young people about their own sexual health. Future priorities include developing more enduring forms of coinvestigation with Aboriginal young people beyond data collection during single studies, and support for young researchers to gain formal qualifications to enhance future employability.

Kava : A Challenge to Alcohol?

1987 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-53
Author(s):  
J.E. Cawte
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
The South ◽  
Aboriginal Communities ◽  
North East ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Arnhem Land

Kava has been introduced into Aboriginal communities in Northern Australia. Persons from Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land visiting the South Pacific region on study tours have been impressed by their welcome in Kava bowl ceremonies, and some of them hoped that the Aborigines might use Kava instead of alcohol.In 1983 many Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land used Kava, and much more was used in 1984. By 1985 it became a social epidemic or ‘craze’ in many communities. Rings of people of both sexes and of all ages often sit together under trees around Kava bowls for many hours. They may drink up to a hundred times the amount normally drunk in the Pacific Islands by the same number of people in the same time.

Chasing The Dream – Self-Determination on a Non-territorial Basis for the Noongar Traditional Owners in the South West of Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-193
Author(s):  
Bertus De Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Aboriginal Community ◽  
Native Title ◽  
Land Claim ◽  
South West ◽  
The Government

Abstract Self-determination for Aboriginal people in Australia has been a long sought after yet difficult objective to reach. The recently concluded Noongar Settlement in the state of Western Australia opens new opportunities and could potentially set a new benchmark for non-territorial autonomy and self-government for an Aboriginal community. The Noongar Settlement exceeds the more traditional settlements of a native title claim since it provides elaborate institutions for self-government albeit by way of private bodies corporate. The bodies corporate for the Noongar people would enable them to make and administer decisions; offer services; undertake management of public conservation areas; and advocate for the best interests of their community. This privatised form of self-government may not only provide new impetus to other land claim processes in Australia, it may also address the often-heard demands from Aboriginal people for a treaty to be entered into between themselves and the government of Australia.

Voices Still to be Heard

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Gool ◽  
Wendy Patton
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Torres Strait Islander People ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
Queensland Health ◽  
Aboriginal Culture ◽  
Cape York

In a climate of self-determination it is essential to clarify what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves feel about their cultural identity and future. These voices exist in a context of the great potential in Aboriginal culture and by contrast the severe problems which Aboriginal people face.Lippman (1994) argues that, although there is some evidence of Aboriginal status becoming more equitable, education being one instance to avail self-determination, data continue to reveal that Aboriginal mortality and morbidity rates lie in stark contrast to those of the general population of Australia. The death rate for Aboriginal men and women of 35 to 44 years is eight times higher than for the average non-Aboriginal (Ferrari, 1997). Queensland Health (1996) recently reported that Cape York has yet to experience the mortality gains seen by Indigenous populations in New Zealand and North America.

scholarly journals Land Rights at Last!

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-165
Author(s):  
Heidi Norman
Keyword(s):  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Economic Disadvantage ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Select Committee ◽  
Aboriginal Rights ◽  
Historical Reality ◽  
State Relations

In 1978 the Wran Government announced an Inquiry to investigate a range of issues including Aboriginal land rights recognition, the causes of Aboriginal social and economic disadvantage, heritage protection and commonwealth and state relations. The Select Committee, chaired by state member Maurie Keane, in its ‘First Report’ that focused on land rights, not only fundamentally changed the way Government’s liaise and consult with Aboriginal people, the Committee unanimously endorsed far-reaching recommendations including the ability to recover land, compensation for cultural loss and three-tier community driven administrative structure. All of this was set in the context of Aboriginal rights to self-determination and fundamental attachment to land as a cultural relationship and historical reality. The movement for land rights was the culmination of many years of land justice activism, shifting policy at the Commonwealth level and wider international movements contesting colonial rule and racism. More specifically the land rights movement in NSW was galvanised in response to the previous Government’s renewed efforts to assimilate Aboriginal people and revoke reserve lands and the limited land rights recognition made possible through the Aboriginal Lands Trust (herein ‘the Trust’). This paper argues a more focused and pronounced campaign emerged in the mid 1970s whereby land rights ‘time had come’ as a result of Aboriginal political activism and the alliances formed with and among left social movements. This movement created the political climate for the Wran Government’s announcement of the Select Committee Inquiry in 1978.

Privatised Autonomy for the Noongar People of Australia – a sui generis Model for Indigenous Non-territorial Self-government

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-189
Author(s):  
Bertus de Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Intergovernmental Relations ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
Native Title ◽  
Fourth Level ◽  
Level Government

The Noongar people of the federal state of Western Australia have recently entered into what can be described as the most comprehensive settlement of a native title claim that spans an area of 200 000 square kilometres. The Settlement lays the foundation of a sui generis model for indigenous and minority self-determination in Australia and beyond. The Settlement sits between the spheres of public law and private law and provides for a form of non-territorial autonomy that is unique not only to Australia. The Noongar people are acknowledged as the traditional owners of the entire area, albeit that major other towns and cities are located in the area and the Noongar people only constitute very small minority. Whereas the topic of non-territorial self-government has been mainly explored in theory and in practice in the European domain, the Noongar Settlement shows how the principles that embody non-territorial autonomy may find root in other parts of the world. The potential relevance of the Noongar Settlement for non-territorial self-government of Aboriginal people or other minorities lies in four essential elements: firstly, creating for the Noongar people legal Corporations by statute for purposes of their self-government; secondly, decentralising powers and functions to the Corporations to enable them to perform the functions of a community government to its members; thirdly, to enable the elected Corporations to develop policies, make decisions and deliver pubic services on a personal rather than a geographical basis to the members of the community; and fourthly, to allow the Corporations to cooperate with and engage other levels of government within the system of intergovernmental relations in Australia. The Noongar Corporations, in effect, have the hallmarks of a fourth level government and represent a potential sui generis model for indigenous and minority non-territorial self-government.

scholarly journals Case–control study of the association between kava use and pneumonia in eastern Arnhem Land Aboriginal communities (Northern Territory, Australia)

2003 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 627-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. CLOUGH ◽  
Z. WANG ◽  
R. S. BAILIE ◽  
C. B. BURNS ◽  
B. J. CURRIE
Keyword(s):  
Case Control Study ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Conditional Logistic Regression ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Dose Response Relationship ◽  
Aboriginal Populations ◽  
Arnhem Land ◽  
Alcohol Users ◽  
Control Study

Pneumonia causes significant morbidity and mortality in Aboriginal populations in Australia's Northern Territory (NT). Kava, consumed in Arnhem Land since 1982, may be a risk factor for infectious disease including pneumonia. A case–control study (n=115 cases; n=415 controls) was conducted in 7001 Aboriginal people (4217 over 15 years). Odds ratios (OR) were calculated by conditional logistic regression with substance use and social factors as confounders. Pneumonia was not associated with kava use. Crude OR=1·26 (0·74–2·14, P=0·386), increased after controlling for confounders (OR=1·98, 0·63–6·23, P=0·237) but was not significant. Adjusted OR for pneumonia cases involving kava and alcohol users was 1·19 (0·39–3·62, P=0·756). In communities with longer kava-using histories, adjusted OR was 2·19 (0·67–7·14, P=0·187). There was no kava dose–response relationship. Crude ORs for associations between pneumonia and cannabis use (OR=2·27, 1·18–4·37, P=0·014) and alcohol use (OR=1·95, 1·07–3·53, P=0·026) were statistically significant and approached significance for petrol sniffing (OR=1·98, 0·99–3·95, P=0·056).

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