Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The Native Title Act 1993 (NTA) came into effect on 1 January 1994.This 30-year milestone caused a reflective moment for the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) as an institution created under the NTA. 1 What would an institution that has undergone significant change over that period want to strive for over the next 10, 20, 30 years and beyond?The answer was in the last paragraph of the Preamble to the NTA, which states that the law is intended to be a special measure for the advancement and protection of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, 'and is intended to further advance the process of reconciliation among all Australians' (my emphasis).First Nation peoples often talk about the 'unfinished business' that sharply flows from the consequence of the High Court's rejection of the doctrine of terra nullius (land belonging to no-one). 2 'Unfinished business' is every Australian's business and that last sentence hints at what the outcome of what 'finished business' looks like; a reconciled Australia.A reconciled Australia based on rights; how could it be otherwise?Accordingly, the NNTT has adopted the vision statement of 'A Reconciled Future' and this afterword will focus on some of the key components that need to be advanced by the native title system to realise that vision.All contributors drew upon their immense anthropological experience, expertise, and personal commitment to assist Australian First Nation peoples in their pursuit of legal recognition under both the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976 (ALRA) and the NTA and generously share reflections upon the continuities and change within those contexts over the past 50 years.My afterword is about the future, near and over the horizon, focusing upon a framework of five interlinking components: rights, cultural authority, governance, Indigenous estate, and capability.These components are critical to a 'theory of change' in the pursuit of reconciliation.While not couched in those terms, all contributors raise matters that touch upon one, some, or all these components.
DOI: 10.1111/taja.70008
Author: Kevin Smith
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4408647723