Indigenous Rights

What do we mean by Indigenous rights?

“An inherent part of reconciliation is the recognition and respect for the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to the Australian community and of the distinct rights which they hold as the first peoples of this land.”
Paul Newman, former Chair of NSW Reconciliation Council, 2004.

Indigenous Australians hold distinctive rights as the original peoples of this land including:

the right to a distinct status and culture, which helps maintain and strengthen the identity and spiritual and cultural practices of Indigenous communities
the right to land, which provides the spiritual and cultural basis of Indigenous communities
the right to self-determination, which is a process where Indigenous communities take control of their future and decide how they will address the issues facing them.

Self determination is an ‘on going process of choice’ to ensure that Indigenous communities are able to meet their social, cultural and economic needs. It is not about creating a separate Indigenous ‘state’.

The right to self determination is based on the simple acknowledgment that Indigenous peoples are Australia’s first people, recognised by law in the historic Mabo judgement.

The loss of this right to live according to a set of common values and beliefs, and to have that right respected by others, is at the heart of the current disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians. Without self-determination it is not possible for Indigenous Australians to fully overcome the legacy of colonisation and dispossession.

See NSW Reconciliation Council's Rights, Respect, Reconciliation: A Community Education Resource; for more information about the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Australian Human Rights Commission, Information Sheet - Social Justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Australian Human Rights Commission, Face the Facts: Some Questions and Answers about Indigenous Peoples, Migrants and Refugees and Asylum Seekers, Chapter 1, 2008.