Elliott Johnston was a most unusual lawyerâ ]Coming generations of lawyers can be encouraged to reflect upon the causes of justice and equality that he so powerfully espoused. The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG Twenty-five years after Elliott Johnston's thorough and prescient Report on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, juvenile justice, freedom of speech, racial discrimination, human rights and a referendum on constitutional 'recognition' of Indigenous Australians remain subjects of contestation, national debate and international scrutiny. In this collection, 17 distinguished Indigenous and non-Indigenous jurists, scholars and community leaders show common cause with Johnston. They pursue better ways of understanding social values, justice and equality expressed through issues of native title, incarceration rates, cultural protection, self-determination and rights of Indigenous peoples. They look to the law as a site of hope and an instrument of public education and principled change.

In Indigenous America, human rights and justice take on added significance. The special legal status of Native Americans and the highly complex jurisdictional issues resulting from colonial ideologies have become deeply embedded into federal law and policy. Nevertheless, Indigenous people in the United States are often invisible in discussions of criminal and social justice. Crime and Social Justice in Indian Country calls to attention the need for culturally appropriate research protocols and critical discussions of social and criminal justice in Indian Country. The contributors come from the growing wave of Native American as well as non-Indigenous scholars who employ these methods. They reflect on issues in three key areas: crime, social justice, and community responses to crime and justice issues. Topics include stalking, involuntary sterilization of Indigenous women, border-town violence, Indian gaming, child welfare, and juvenile justice. These issues are all rooted in colonization; however, the contributors demonstrate how Indigenous communities are finding their own solutions for social justice, sovereignty, and self-determination. Thanks to its focus on community responses that exemplify Indigenous resilience, persistence, and innovation, this volume will be valuable to those on the ground working with Indigenous communities in public and legal arenas, as well as scholars and students. Crime and Social Justice in Indian Country shows the way forward for meaningful inclusions of Indigenous peoples in their own justice initiatives. Contributors Alisse Ali-Joseph William G. Archambeault Cheryl Redhorse Bennett Danielle V. Hiraldo Lomayumptewa K. Ishii Karen Jarratt-Snider Eileen Luna-Firebaugh Anne Luna-Gordinier Marianne O. Nielsen Linda M. Robyn

If governments of Australia agreed to share power with Aboriginal people, what would the result be? And if Australia was to have a settlement or a treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, what would a treaty deal with and how would a treaty affect the general public? Is there anything beyond a treaty?Treaty and Statehood: Aboriginal Self-determination, by Aboriginal author Michael Mansell, answers these questions and more. Mansell examines the New Zealand model of designated Māori seats and applies the idea to comprise 12 Indigenous Senators in Australia. He argues designated seats and a treaty are constitutionally permissible, and details the possible content for a treaty. He discusses the meaning of self-determination and its limitations, and also thoroughly reviews Aboriginal sovereignty and its function in a modern Australia.The book critically examines the legality of designated seats, treaty, sharing of power and autonomous communities. The legal examination is broken down into easy-to-understand language. Ultimately, Mansell looks at whether justice can best be served to Aboriginal people through a new State of Australia.This new idea of a seventh State - or First State for the First peoples, as the author prefers - is constitutionally legal. Its practicality is also critically examined, including the rights each Aboriginal community or 'nation' would have under statehood.This is a book that answers our query about what reconciliation ultimately means and how it can be achieved."His strongly expressed opinions are always sincere and soundly argued: they may appear at first provocative or over-idealistic, but just wait; in years to come they are likely to be seen as a prescient articulation of a way forward for securing the dignity of our first Australians." - Geoffrey Robertson QC, from the ForewordIn the media...An Indigenous seventh state: a radical idea from a constitutional conservative, Stan Grant, ABC News, 3 Jun 2017 Read article...New book examines 'justice', Jillian Mundy, The Koori Mail, 25 January 2017 Read article...Aboriginal lawyer and activist Michael Mansell has written a new book, Holly Monery, The Examiner, 28 December 2016 Read article...Mansell draws new boundaries for Aboriginal state, Wendy Caccetta, National Indigenous Times, 21 December 2016 Read article...Treaty's benefits, Opinion Letter by Michael Mansell, The Australian, 19 December 2016 Read letter...Indigenous spending to double, warns Michael Mansell, Stephen Fitzpatrick, The Australian, 16 December 2016 Read article...Michael Mansell on Sky News, The Bolt Report with Andrew Bolt, 15 December 2016 Listen to interview...Australia should create seventh state run by Indigenous people, lawyer Michael Mansell says, Dan Conifer, ABC News, 14 December 2016 Read article...

"The Legal Australia-Wide Survey (LAW Survey) provides the first comprehensive quantitative assessment across Australia of an extensive range of legal needs on a representative sample of the population. It examines the nature of legal problems, the pathways to their resolution, and the demographic groups that struggle with the weight of their legal problems." -- Law and Justice Foundation of N.S.W. website.

Darryl McCarthy (a Mardigan man from South West Queensland)Women's Business Reproduced with permission of the artist © Darryl McCarthy_______________________________________This collection of essays explores the history and current status of proposals to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution of Australia. The book had its genesis in a colloquium co-hosted by the University of Southern Queensland and Southern Cross University, attended by scholars from Australia and overseas and prominent participants in the recognition debates. The contributions have been updated and supplemented to produce a collection that explores what is possible and preferable from a variety of perspectives, organised into three parts: 'Concepts and Context', 'Theories, Critique and Alternatives', and 'Comparative Perspectives'. It includes work by well-regarded constitutional law scholars and legal historians, as well as analysis built from and framed by Indigenous world views and knowledges. It also features the voices of a number of comparative scholars - examining relevant developments in the United States, Canada, the South Pacific, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South America. The combined authorship represents 10 universities from across Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. The book is intended to be both an accurate and detailed record of this critical step in Australian legal and political history and an enduring contribution to ongoing dialogue, reconciliation and the empowerment of Australia's First Peoples.

We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future. On 26 May 2017, after a historic process of consultation, the Uluru Statement from the Heart was read out. This clear and urgent call for reform to the community from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples asked for the establishment of a First Nations Voice to Parliament protected in the constitution and a process of agreement-making and truth-telling. Voice. Treaty. Truth. What was the journey to this point? What do Australians need to know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart? And how can these reforms be achieved? Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart, written by Megan Davis and George Williams, two of Australia’s best-known constitutional experts, is essential reading on how our Constitution was drafted, what the 1967 referendum achieved, and the lead-up and response to the Uluru Statement. Importantly, it explains how the Uluru Statement offers change that will benefit the whole nation. 'This is the first authoritative book on the Uluru Statement from the Heart and a constitutional Voice. It is a must read for all Australians as the nation prepares for a referendum. It is a vitally important book written for all Australians who have accepted the Uluru invitation and are walking with us in a journey of the Australian people for a better future.’ — Patricia Anderson AO, Alyawarre woman ‘This book is the first comprehensive historical and contemporary story of the Uluru Statement and its place in the Aboriginal struggle for rights and recognition. It shines a light on the leadership of First Nations peoples. And it highlights the hopes of First Nations for democratic change using the people power of all Australians walking together and exercising our collective agency for change.’ — Sally Scales, Pitjantjatjara woman, Chair of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands Executive Board

Bringing together a well-respected team of commentators, many of them indigenous Australians themselves, this revised and updated edition examines the legal, social and political developments that have taken place in Australia since the publication of the last edition. Providing students with a greater understanding of the issues facing Indigenous Australians in the hope of contributing to reconciliation, the authors explore a broad range of developments, including: human rights and reconciliation in contemporary Australia; the demise of ATSIC; issues of indigenous governance and water rights. Giving readers an incisive account of the resounding impact of social, political and legal conditions upon the Indigenous people of Australia and their interaction with and recourse to the law, this book is an excellent resource for those interested in the law of a coloniser or conqueror and its lasting impact upon first nations.

"Abstract Global legal pluralism has become one of the leading analytical frameworks for understanding and conceptualizing law in the twenty-first century"--

The Australian nation has reached an impasse in Indigenous policy and practice and fresh strategies and perspectives are required. Trapped by History highlights a fundamental issue that the Australian nation must confront to develop a genuine relationship with Indigenous Australians. The existing relationship between Indigenous people and the Australian state was constructed on the myth of an empty land – terra nullius. Interactions with Indigenous people have been constrained by eighteenth-century assumptions and beliefs that Indigenous people did not have organised societies, had neither land ownership nor a recognisable form of sovereignty, and that they were ‘savage’ but could be ‘civilized’ through the erasure of their culture. These incorrect assumptions and beliefs are the foundation of the legal, constitutional and political treatment of Indigenous Australians over the course of the country’s history. They remain ingrained in governmental institutions, Indigenous policy making, judicial decision making and contemporary public attitudes about Indigenous people. Trapped by History shines new light upon historical and contemporary examples where Indigenous people have attempted to engage and dialogue with state and federal governments. These governments have responded by trying to suppress and discredit Indigenous rights, culture and identities and impose assimilationist policies. In doing so they have rejected or ignored Indigenous attempts at dialogue and partnership. Other settler countries such as New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America have all negotiated treaties with Indigenous people and have developed constitutional ways of engaging cross culturally. In Australia, the limited recognition that Indigenous people have achieved to date shows that the state is unable to resolve long standing issues with Indigenous people. Movement beyond the current colonial relationship with Indigenous Australians requires a genuine dialogue to not only examine the legal and intellectual framework that constrains Indigenous recognition but to create new foundations for a renewed relationship based on intercultural negotiation, mutual respect, sharing and mutual responsibility. This must involve building a shared understanding around addressing past injustices and creating a shared vision for how Indigenous people and other Australians will associate politically in the future.

Detailed examination of the scope for recognition of customary laws through existing common law rules; human rights and problems of relativity of standards; contact experience; constitutional aspects; marriage and family structures; recognition of traditional marriage; protection and distribution of property; child custody, fostering and adoption; the criminal justice system; customary law offences; police investigation and interrogation; issues of evidence and procedure including unsworn statements, juries and interpreters; proof of customary law including scope of expert evidence; taking of evidence including group evidence, secrecy and privileged communications; customary methods of dispute settlement; special Aboriginal courts and justice schemes; relations with police; traditional hunting, fishing and gathering practices; relevant case law and legislation considered throughout.