Terra nullius then and now: Mabo, native title, and reconciliation in 2000

Abstract

It is not widely understood that the High Court decision in the case Mabo and Others v. State of Queensland (1992) was both good news and bad news for Indigenous people. Nor is it understood that the Native Title Act (1993) was primarily aimed not at recognition of native title but to accommodate and give security to every other existing stakeholder in land, so that the new recognition of the pre-existing rights of Australia's Indigenous people would not challenge or undermine them.This paper examines phases in Australian governments' responses to Aboriginal rights from a psycho-political perspective. Denial and projection are seen to be operating in the various stances or approaches to the issue of native title by the major parties involved. The ongoing need for the acknowledgment and recognition of wrongdoing and dialogue are seen as precursors of genuine reconciliation between Aboriginal and other Australians. The analogy of theft and the application of the restorative justice concept are discussed in relation to these issues in the political arena. The way in which racism and prejudice are raised and perpetuated is related to the theory of “images of the enemy”, and the way false perceptions are propagated is also discussed. The approaches taken by recent governments are seen to bring the notion of terra nullius — the empty land — into the 1990s. Support for the arguments presented in this paper is provided by the recent decision by the United Nations' Human Rights Committee, which found Australia's 1998 “10 point plan” version of the Native Title Act to be racist and discriminatory.