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Separatism or Status‐Quo?: Indigenous Affairs from the Birth of Land Rights to the Death of ATSIC *
Author(s) -
Bradfield Stuart
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8497.2006.00409a.x
Subject(s) - indigenous , state (computer science) , status quo , politics , political science , representation (politics) , realisation , identity (music) , political economy , position (finance) , sociology , law , biology , ecology , economics , physics , finance , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science , acoustics
Unlike other settler societies, Australia has yet to recognise Indigenous peoples as “peoples” or “nations”. Despite this, we see something of a consensus emerging which suggests Indigenous “separatism” has been tried and failed in Australia, and it is time to revisit an integrationist approach in order to improve Indigenous peoples' socio‐economic position. This paper challenges the assumption that, beginning in the 1970s, Indigenous‐state relations have been characterised by the realisation of a separatist agenda. On the contrary, assessing three decades of Indigenous‐state relations reveals a consistent logic from the state which ultimately seeks to integrate Indigenous Australians, rather than recognise them as having a distinct — and separate — political identity. This logic reached its “natural” conclusion with the abolition of elected Indigenous political representation in 2005.