September/October 2009 Volume 7, Issue 14

Editorial

In this general edition of the ILB, we consider a wide range of issues affecting Indigenous people in and around Australia. To open, Peter Billings looks at Commonwealth legislation linking family benefits to school attendance, reflecting on the human rights implications of using welfare entitlements as a tool of state coercion.

Sean Kerins examines the NT’s recently released Working Future policy. Looking at the history and significance of the homelands movement, Sean argues that ‘economic hubs’ and ‘growth towns’ are not only bad policy, they represent an abdication by government of its obligations to its citizens. 

Moving abroad, Neva Collings and Heidi Evans discuss ongoing efforts to develop an international framework that regulates biological and genetic resources found in Indigenous communities. With the growth of bioprospecting, rights to biodiversity represent an increasingly lucrative economic opportunity for some of the world’s poorest peoples. Neva and Heidi examine some of the reasons for slow progress and outline the issues that will be the focus of next month’s negotiations in Montreal.

Nicholas Biddle considers some of the policy challenges that lie ahead given Australia’s rapidly growing Indigenous population. Contrary to popular perceptions, most Indigenous people live in metropolitan and regional centres and this is only set to continue over the coming years. Nicholas argues that CoAG must therefore adapt the closing the gap policy to reflect the challenges associated with this demographic shift and to ensure improved socio-economic outcomes for Indigenous people across the board.

Having completed his tour of Australia in August this year, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous people, Professor James Anaya has submitted his preliminary findings to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Professor Anaya discusses a wide range of concerns, including the need for ‘genuine reconciliation measures’ and the importance of recognising Indigenous rights in the Constitution. Seth Richardson echoes this stance, arguing that while the national Apology reinvigorated the reconciliation debate, the time has now come to deliver on the Prime Minister’s promise of constitutional recognition.

To close this issue, Hana Marjanac and I interview Adam Hill, an outspoken Aboriginal artist who participated in this year’s Art & About festival in Sydney. Adam shared his insights on art, and what it means to him as an Aboriginal man living in an urban world.

Zrinka Lemezina
Editor

School Enrolment and Attendance Measures: More Trials for Aboriginal Families?
By Peter Billings

The First Ever Northern Territory Homelands/Outstations Policy
By Sean Kerins

Access and Benefit Sharing – Protecting Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge
By Neva Collings and Heidi Evans

Indigenous Gaps in the City
By Nicholas Biddle

Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People

Archives of the ILB from Volume 1, Issue 1 (1981) to 6 (27) 2007 are available online at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLB and http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ILB/.