Committees - Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Inquiry on Northern Territory Indigenous Affairs: Examination of Structural Relationships in Indigenous Affairs and Indigenous Governance within the Northern Territory

On 22 May 2002, the Committee, having regard to the resolution of the Legislative Assembly of 25 October 2001 in providing additional terms of reference, resolved among other things, to conduct an inquiry into matters relating to Indigenous governance in the Northern Territory, in particular, the examination of appropriate relationships that should exist between the Indigenous people/communities of the Northern Territory, the Northern Territory Government and the wider Territory community:

(a) under the present constitutional/legislative arrangements applying in the Northern Territory; and

(b) whether those arrangements might have influence upon a future grant of Statehood to the Northern Territory; including

(c) the question whether the Northern Territory Government should enter into a Framework Agreement or Agreements with the representatives of those Indigenous people/communities.

In elaborating on Framework Agreements, the Committee took into account its 1999 Report into Appropriate Means to Facilitate Statehood which included a discussion of the interests of the Indigenous people of the Northern Territory as part of any grant of Statehood. The report also discussed the subject of a possible Framework Agreement for the Northern Territory, that is, an agreement between the Northern Territory Government, and the representatives of the Indigenous people of the Northern Territory, concerning a range of issues of vital interest to the two parties, and setting out a framework within which the relationship between the two could or should be developed in the future.

Although this Inquiry is not directly tied to Statehood, the Committee is aware that the outcome of this Inquiry is an issue critical to the future success of Statehood.

The Committee has prepared a Discussion Paper in respect of this matter:

Discussion Paper No.1 - Inquiry on Northern Territory Indigenous Affairs: Examination of Structural Relationships in Indigenous Affairs and Indigenous Governance within the Northern Territory, June 2002.

Contact Details
Ms Julia Knight
Committee Secretary
GPO Box 3721
DARWIN NT 0801
Telephone: (08) 8901 4149
Fax: (08) 8989412567
Email: lcac@nt.gov.au

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