Law Internet Resources

Indigenous Peoples and the Law

This guide contains links to Internet resources and documents in the area of federal law and indigenous peoples, as well as providing links to other guides and directories which contain material on State and Territory and overseas law.

• Legislation
• Court and Tribunal decisions, law reports etc
• Key National Bodies
• Key Publications
• Links to Other Australian Sites (State organisations, Pathfinders, Directories etc)
• Overseas Sites

Legislation

• Current bills, Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs portfolio

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984
• Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Studies Act 1989
• Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006
• Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Act 2007
• Native Title Act 1993
• Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007
• Racial Discrimination Act 1975
  
• Links to major Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation (from AustLII)
• To remove and protect: laws that changed Aboriginal lives
  Texts of mainly repealed State and Territory legislation from the early twentieth century relating to Aboriginal protection and the stolen generation
• Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements (University of Melbourne)
  Index and summaries of agreements but usually no texts

Court and Tribunal decisions, law reports etc

• National Native Title Tribunal
• Federal Court and High Court decisions
• Significant individual cases, eg Mabo and Wik native title cases, Cubillo stolen generation case (from AustLII)

Key National Bodies

• Attorney-General's Department. Indigenous Law and Justice Branch
  • Native title reform page
• Australia. Parliament. House of Representatives. Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs
• Australia. Parliament. Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund (ceased operation 2006)
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR)
• Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (now Reconciliation Australia)
• Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA)
  • Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (OIPC)
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner
• Indigenous Justice Clearinghouse
  A joint federal-state initiative on research related to indigenous justice issues
• Indigenous Land Corporation
  Established in 1995, the ILC assists indigenous peoples to acquire and manage land
• Reconciliation and Social Justice Project
  A joint AUSTLII/Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation project. Contains significant documents which are not otherwise available on the Internet
• Reconciliation Australia (formerly Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation)
• University of New South Wales. Gilbert & Tobin Centre for Public Law. Treaty Project
• University of New South Wales. Indigenous Law Centre

Key Publications

For further items, search the Parlinfo database and select Library for journal articles, books and library publications, and Media for newspaper articles and media releases. Although full text searchable, for copyright reasons some material on Parlinfo may be available only to those using the Parliament House computer network.

• Halsburys laws of Australia (Butterworths). Title 5. Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders
  Commercial publication. Not available outside Parliament
• The Laws of Australia (Law Book Co). Title 1. Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
  Commercial publication. Not available outside Parliament
• Australian Indigenous Law Reporter
  Articles, case notes and legislative developments. Full text from vol. 1 (1996) +.
• Indigenous law bulletin
  Full text from 1997+. Previous title: Aboriginal Law Bulletin (1981-1997)
• Time Line: Legal Developments Affecting Indigenous People (Australasian Legal Information Institute)
  1820 to the present

Government and Parliamentary reports etc

2005

• Access of Indigenous Australians to Law and Justice Services (Report 403 of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit)
• Land Rights and Development Reform in Remote Australia (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU)
• Native Title Reform: Practical reforms to deliver better outcomes in native title (Attorney-General, 7 September 2005)

2003

• In the Hands of the Regions—A New ATSIC (Report of the Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission)
• ATSIS Law and Justice Program: Performance Audit (Auditor-General) (Audit Report No.13 2003-04)

2002

• Mabo: ten years on (C. Dow, Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)

2000

• Healing, a legacy of generations (Australia. Parliament. Senate. Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee)
  The Report of the Inquiry into the Federal Government's implementation of the recommendations made by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in Bringing Them Home
• Reconciliation implementation and framework agreements legislation: discussion paper (Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation)
• The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia and indigenous peoples 1901-1967 (J. Summers, Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• Consistency of the Native Title Amendment Act 1998 with Australia's international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (Australia. Parliament. Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund)

1999

• Unlocking the future: the report of the Inquiry into the Reeves Review of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Australia. Parliament. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs)
• High Court upholds bush tucker rights- Analysis of Yanner v Eaton (Parliamentary Library)
• United National Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) adopts March 1999 decision that the Native Title Act is in breach of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (August 1999)

1998

• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Bill 1998- Report no. 12 of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984- Report no. 11 of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund
• Governance structures for indigenous Australians on and off native title lands- Australian Research Council Collaborative Research Project
• Our culture, our future: report on Australian indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights (T. Janke)

1997

• The Native Title Amendment Bill 1997- Report no. 10 of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund
• Native Title Amendment Bill: Bills Digest no. 2 - comments on the bill as reintroduced with amendments (Parliamentary Library)
• Native Title Amendment Bill: Bills Digest - Parliamentary Library
• Bringing them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families- Stolen Generation Report (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission)
• The Wik Peoples v the State of Queensland- Analysis by the Australian Government Solicitor

1996

• The Native Title Amendment Bill 1996- Report no. 6 of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund
• The Native Title Amendment Bill 1996 and the Racial Discrimination Act- Report no. 7 of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund
• Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (E. Evatt)

1995 and earlier

• 1995 The Native Title Act case – Analysis of Western Australia v Commonwealth (Australian Government Solicitor)
• 1994 Native Title Act 1993 – Analysis by the Australian Government Solicitor
• 1993 Native Title Act 1993 Legal Practice Briefing (Australian Government Solicitor)
• 1993 The Native Title Bill: impact on the States (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1993 The Mabo debate: a chronology (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1993 A guide through the Mabo maze (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody National and regional full text reports
• 1991 The Royal Commission and its records, 1987-1991 (National Archives of Australia research guide)
• 1986 Recognition of Aboriginal customary laws (Australian Law Reform Commission)

Links to Other Australian Sites (Pathfinders, Directories etc)

Overseas Sites

• Researching indigenous peoples rights under international law (S. Perkins)
  Excellent overview with links to Internet resources. Written in 1992 and updated in 1999
• via WorldLII
• via Catalaw
  Links to a wide range of sites around the world
• via Hieros Gamos
• Native Web. Indigenous Peoples' Law and Legal Issues
• United Nations. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Comments to: roy.jordan@aph.gov.au
Last reviewed 31 March, 2009 by the Parliamentary Library Web Manager
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