Law Internet Resources

Indigenous Peoples and the Law

This guide contains links to Internet resources and documents in the area of federal law and indigenous peoples, as well as providing links to other guides and directories which contain material on State and Territory and overseas law.

• Legislation
• Court and Tribunal decisions, law reports etc
• Key National Bodies
• Key Publications
• Links to Other Australian Sites (State organisations, Pathfinders, Directories etc)
• Overseas Sites

Legislation

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984
• Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Studies Act 1989
• Coordinator-General for Remote Indigenous Services Act 2009
• Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006
• Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Act 2007
• Native Title Act 1993
• Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007
• Racial Discrimination Act 1975
  
• Links to major Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation (from AustLII)
• To remove and protect: laws that changed Aboriginal lives
  Texts of mainly repealed State and Territory legislation from the early twentieth century relating to Aboriginal protection and the stolen generation
• Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements (University of Melbourne)
  Index and summaries of agreements but usually no texts

Court and Tribunal decisions, law reports etc

• National Native Title Tribunal
• Federal Court and High Court decisions
• Significant individual cases, eg Mabo and Wik native title cases, Cubillo stolen generation case (from AustLII)

Key National Bodies

• Attorney-General's Department. Indigenous Law and Justice Branch
  • Native title reform page
• Australia. Parliament. House of Representatives. Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs
• Australia. Parliament. Joint Committee on Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund (ceased operation 2006)
• Australia. Parliament. Senate. Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities (established 2008)
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR)
• Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (now Reconciliation Australia)
• Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA)
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner
• Indigenous Justice Clearinghouse
  A joint federal-state initiative on research related to indigenous justice issues
• Indigenous Land Corporation
  Established in 1995, the ILC assists indigenous peoples to acquire and manage land
• Reconciliation Australia (formerly Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation)
• University of New South Wales. Gilbert & Tobin Centre for Public Law. Treaty Project
• University of New South Wales. Indigenous Law Centre

Key Publications

For further items, search the Parlinfo database and select Library for journal articles, books and library publications, and Media for newspaper articles and media releases. Although full text searchable, for copyright reasons some material on Parlinfo may be available only to those using the Parliament House computer network.

• Halsburys laws of Australia (Butterworths). Title 5. Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders
  Commercial publication. Not available outside Parliament
• The Laws of Australia (Law Book Co). Title 1. Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
  Commercial publication. Not available outside Parliament
• Australian Indigenous Law Reporter
  Articles, case notes and legislative developments. Full text from vol. 1 (1996) +.
• Indigenous law bulletin
  Full text from 1997+. Previous title: Aboriginal Law Bulletin (1981-1997)
• Time Line: Legal Developments Affecting Indigenous People (Australasian Legal Information Institute)
  1820 to the present

Government and Parliamentary reports etc

2005

• Access of Indigenous Australians to Law and Justice Services (Report 403 of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit)
• Land Rights and Development Reform in Remote Australia (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU)
• Native Title Reform: Practical reforms to deliver better outcomes in native title (Attorney-General, 7 September 2005)

2003

• In the Hands of the Regions—A New ATSIC (Report of the Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission)
• ATSIS Law and Justice Program: Performance Audit (Auditor-General) (Audit Report No.13 2003-04)

2002

• Mabo: ten years on (C. Dow, Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)

1768-2002

• From 1768-2002 key documents may be found on AustLII's Indigenous Law Resources page

Links to Other Australian Sites (Pathfinders, Directories etc)

Overseas Sites

• via WorldLII
• via Hieros Gamos
• Native Web. Indigenous Peoples' Law and Legal Issues
• United Nations. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Comments to: catherine.lorimer@aph.gov.au
Last reviewed 8 June, 2011 by the Parliamentary Library Web Manager
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