Indigenous aspirations and democratic design: structural reform in Australia
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples claim a distinctive relationship with the Australian state based on their pre-colonial status as self-governing sovereign communities. This relationship is not reflected in Australia’s constitutional and political framework, which inhibits Indigenous Aus...
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| Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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UNSW, Sydney
2019
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/61966 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/6e4626e1-18e9-4eb8-9ec4-7d59b8721b68/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/3707 |
| Summary: | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples claim a distinctive relationship with the Australian state based on their pre-colonial status as self-governing sovereign communities. This relationship is not reflected in Australia’s constitutional and political framework, which inhibits Indigenous Australians’ ability to have their distinct interests considered in the processes of government. Can the Australian state be restructured to rectify this failing and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people? This thesis answers this question in two parts. By examining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ nuanced and complex political thought, the thesis first explores the multivocal expressions of Indigenous aspirations for structural reform and democratic design. Fundamental themes that emerge from this exploration are then articulated into a set of criteria—voices, power, ownership, and integrity—that each capture a critical dimension of Indigenous goals in a manner legible to Australia’s system of governance. This produces a metric to assess institutional mechanisms and processes designed to empower Indigenous peoples to be heard in the processes of government. In the second part of the thesis, these criteria are applied to two key case studies: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), and the Swedish Sámediggi. The thesis concludes by presenting a model for structural reform in Australia that meets Indigenous aspirations for democratic design. |
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