Indigenous Relations
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| Major Australian Issues Indigenous Relations |
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| At first glance, globalization may not seem to be an issue unique to Australia, for all other nations have this choice at some time or another; the issue concerning land rights of Aborigines, however, is a topic that is obviously identified with Australia. Though other countries, such as the United States, have concerns with the native population, Australia's is rare because most of the native inhabitants still live today as they lived before European contact, creating a cultural split in the Australian population. Because the traditional culture of the Aborigines (making up 2.1% of Australia;s 1996 population) relies on the land, the Aborigines are fighting for the land that they claim was taken from them during colonization ("Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders"). At the time of colonization, the Europeans held a terra nullus philosophy, meaning that the land belonged to no one. Up until the seventies, the white Australians segregated the Aboriginal people, denying them the right to vote and access to social welfare, and even forcibly removed Aboriginal children as a source of labor on farms ("Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders"). Formal reconciliation with the Aboriginal people began in 1991when Federal Parliament unanimously supported the issue of reconciliation. Perhaps the most famous case supporting the Aborigines was the Mabo Decision in 1992, in which the High Court rejected the terra nullus philosophy; the court offered no plan for how land should be redistributed, however ("Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders"). In the case, the Aborigines described their belief in Malo, an octopus-like divinity who set down the laws of the tribes and the land and waters allotted to each, which directly contradicted the settlement of the Europeans (Brennan 2). The Native Title Act, which came into operation in 1994, carried the Mabo Decision further by creating a framework for the recognition of native titles; it held that lands could be given back to the Aboriginal people, but past acts in which the Aborigines consented to give up their land rights were still valid ("Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders"). Many Aboriginal activists, however, are not content with the way that their people are being treated by the Australian government; Aboriginal activist Lyall Munro sums up the feelings of the Aborigines, "This country, from a black perspective, is by the far the most racist country in the world" (Litke). From protesting at the Old Parliament House in Canberra on Australia Day, a holiday honoring George V (Fletcher), to criticizing Prime Minister John Howard for amending a racial discrimination bill (Singleton 38), the Aborigines make it clear that their rights are still on the forefront of the political scene. Their trust is not in Howard, for after he produced a bill that would allow farmers to keep their land if they had leased it for more than 200 years, he "made an enemy of the Aboriginal people" ("Aborigines Fight for Australian Land They Say is Theirs"). Certain attempts have been made to reconcile with the Aboriginal people, including instituting a National Sorry Day, but the issue of indigenous land rights is still pressing in Australia today. It is a situation unique to Australia, for the Aborigines as a people do not exist elsewhere. Furthermore, few other indigenous people of other nations are as vocal or internationally recognized as those of Australia, keeping the issue a distinctive debate in the country. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aborigines playing didjeridus, an horn-like instrument | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Name: | Emily | |||||||||||||||||||||
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