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Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs 1996a). One of the strengths of theAGSP is that it applies to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities inQueensland, including urban and semi-urban communities, and is not limited to thoseoperating under the Community Services Acts 1984 (Office of Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander Affairs 1996a pages 13-14).The organisers of the NT’s Aboriginal Constitutional Convention prepared adocument on Aboriginal self-government which outlined some of the definitionalissues and areas of potential responsibility.1. What is Aboriginal self-government?A process of redrawing the ancestral domain through the right of Aboriginal selfgovernment.This is a fundamental human right of Indigenous people.The inherent right of Aboriginal people to govern themselves is not beyond thecapacity of the Federal Government to recognise and demarcate. It is simply creating a fairerdivision of the power and sovereignty…4. What does Aboriginal self-government mean?• Greater Aboriginal self-determination and autonomy;• Owning the design of decision making structures that are appropriate to the localsituation, needs, and culture;• Control and authority over internal affairs;• Setting own priorities and determine policy, program design;• Selectively taking on the delivery of services eg. education, child welfare, socialservices, health, policing and justice, land and resource planning and environment protection(Reynolds 1996 pages 141 and 143).Australian governments have not fully considered the relationship betweenIndigenous self-determination and the federal distribution of powers. However, manyIndigenous organisations have experience of local control and regional co-operation.Aboriginal local governing bodies generally face a larger struggle to achieve equitableconditions for their communities and consequently the need for regional unity is increased.However because of the cultural value placed on local control, the regional unity is achievedwithout compromising the fundamental autonomy that traditional land owners have over theirtraditional areas.The model is a micro-scale of federal-style distribution of powers between levels ofauthority. Aboriginal local governing bodies have considerable experience in making such amodel work (Pitjantjatjara Council Inc 1994 page 41).Implementing self-determination in other countriesA number of submissions to the Inquiry (ALSWA submission 127, SNAICC

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