Overview

The Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements with Indigenous Peoples in Settler States: their role and relevance for Indigenous and other Australians began in March 2002, as an ARC Linkage Project. The original aim of the project was to examine treaty and agreement-making with Indigenous Australians and the nature of the cultural, social and legal rights encompassed by past, present and potential agreements and treaties. The project involved an examination of the legal history and foundations of agreements and treaties, an audit of current agreements, their purposes, status and outcomes, and international comparative research on treaty and agreement-making.

Major initiatives of the project include the creation of the Agreements Treaties and Negotiating Settlements (ATNS) database and the 2004 publication of Honour Among Nations? Treaties and Agreements with Indigenous People, an edited collection of international papers which examine wide ranging issues affecting Indigenous peoples, including sovereignty, treaty and agreement making, land rights, and self determination. In 2006, building on that work, a collection of case studies was published by The Federation Press entitled Settling with Indigenous Peoples: Case Studies in Agreement Making From Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Based on recent research, the book provides readers with location specific insights into the ways in which modern agreement making is impacting on Indigenous peoples' social, economic and political situation in a range of jurisdictions and contexts.

In 2005, the ATNS Research Team was awarded another ARC Linkage Project The Implementation of Agreements and Treaties with Indigenous and Local Peoples in Postcolonial States, with Industry Partners, the Office of Indigenous Policy Co-ordination and Rio Tinto Pty Ltd. This project built on the work done in the previous project by explicitly examining the process of implementation and the wider factors that promote long-term sustainability of agreement outcomes. This project examined the special legal, governance, economic development, land/heritage, and environmental management issues that arise in the interface between Indigenous societies, governments and corporations in an agreement context and focused on the role of implementation in the creation of robust local and regional economies with the consequent benefits for Indigenous and local communities.

The project currently involves researchers from The University of Melbourne (Prof Marcia Langton, Assoc Prof Maureen Tehan, Prof Lee Godden and Assoc Prof Miranda Stewart), Griffith University (Professor Ciaran O’Fairchellaigh) and from the Native Title Research Unit of AIATSIS (Dr Lisa Strelein). Details of the next phase the ATNS Project will be provided shortly.