The end of Aboriginal self-determination?

Abstract

The context of the paper is the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission by the Howard Coalition government in 2004. The Howard government has a well-established antipathy to a rights-based agenda in Aboriginal affairs and the institutional manifestations of Aboriginal self-determination, particularly at a national level. The radical reforms that were signalled by the abolition of the Commission had led some commentators to pronounce the end of Aboriginal self-determination. However, this idea emerged out of the contested dynamic between the Aboriginal movement and the Australian state over the last four decades. I am consequently more optimistic about the potential for a self-determining Aboriginal future. In the final section of this paper I map out three possible future landscapes that are primarily differentiated by the capacity of the Aboriginal movement to renew itself, and engage with the opportunities provided by both the evolving character of the Australian state and the developing global Indigenous networks.