Indigenous People of Australia and Law

Running Head: INDIGENIOUS PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA AND LAW
INDIGENIOUS PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA AND LAW
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

INDIGENIOUS PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA AND LAW1
Indigenous people are the inherited practitioners of unique cultures and maintaining
relationship between the people and the environment, constituting 5% of the world’s population.
They have retained the richness of social, economic, cultural and political richness of the society
that has helped the evolution of humankind in its modern lifestyle. In this ever-growing world,
they are the ones who are the most vulnerable and the most disadvantageous group in the world
who need continuous measures for protection of their rights and distinct cultures without the
interference of outer world. August 9th is celebrated as the World’s indigenous Peoples’
International Day.
The research study aims to bring out various jurisdictions across the world to protect the
indigenous people and critically analyze their application in Australian scenario.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights ensures fundamental rights to all human beings
across the globe. However, the rights of Indigenous people still face serious threats including
their basic existence. The causes for such threat are certain systematic policies of the
government, exploitation due to illiteracy and discrimination, unemployment, and others.
Nevertheless, there are international instruments for their protection of rights including treaties
and conventions. Sometimes, the instruments specifically for indigenous people overlap with
other human rights as parts of general treaties. Some of the international instruments are
Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), Proposed Declaration by America on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (1997), World Bank Operational Directive (1991), and many more.
In New Zealand, the Maori Representation Act 1867 is enacted by the Parliament
to the rights of the people from the Maori Community. Prior to this enactment, the Maori

INDIGENIOUS PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA AND LAW2
land was owned by the community as a whole and not individually by the person1 and
hence, the people from the community were not allowed to vote2. After the introduction
of Electoral Act 1993, the number of Maori seats in the Parliament was subject to similar
basis of determination as the general seats, which at present amounts to seven seats3. The
candidate, for whom a person can vote, depends upon the electorate from which the
candidate hails4. The Royal Commission5 said that if the voter is on the Maori roll, the
voter shall vote for the candidate representing the Maori electorate from the area the voter
lives in. the Maori Election Option is conducted every 5 years from the date of last
elections and it continues for the period of four months. The number of general and
Maori seats is decided depending on the population census6. At present, the Maori
population constitutes 9.3 to 11% of the entire New Zealand population. Therefore, the
number of people enrolled under the Maori roll determines the number of seats held by
the community. However, in the recent times, the people from Maori community are
increasing in number in the Parliament but they contend that their electoral roll is
irrespective of their relation to the language and culture of the Maori community.
However, it has been argued that the exceeding toll represents a form of reverse
discrimination camouflaged as ethnicity7. However, later, the Royal Commission said
that with growing community electoral roll, the size of Maori electorates is becoming
1 MPK Sorenson “A History of Maori Representation in Parliament” in Royal Commission on the Electoral System
Appendix B Report of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System: Towards a Better Democracy (1986); John
Wilson The Origins of the Maori Seats (Parliamentary Library, Wellington, 2003); Sarah McClelland “Maori
Electoral Representation: Challenge to Orthodoxy” [1997] 17(3) NZULR 272.
2 Andrew Geddis “A Dual Track Democracy? The Symbolic Role of the Maori Seats in New Zealand’s Electoral
System” (2006) 5(4) Election Law Journal 347 at 352 [“A Dual Track Democracy”]
3 Philip Joseph The Maori Seats in Parliament: Te Oranga O Te Iwi Maori: A Study of Maori Economic and Social
Progress (New Zealand Business Roundtable, Wellington, 2008) at 6 [“The Maori Seats in Parliament”].
4 Electoral Act 1993, see page 7.
5 Royal Commission on the Electoral System Report of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System: Towards a
Better Democracy (1986) at 83.
6 Electoral Act 1993, s 45(1).
7 Joseph “The Maori Seats in Parliament”, above n 4, at 11-12. See Chapter 4

INDIGENIOUS PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA AND LAW3
unmanageable and hence, they have proposed a system to abolish separate Maori
constituency8. However, although the proposal was introduced, the separation of the
electoral roll between the Maori and non-Maori rolls continued to survive9. On the
contrary, it can be argued that self-aspiration is a huge move and no minority is stopped
from doing so. However, the Parliament grants dedicated favor only to the Maori
community due to their efforts for self-governance. Nevertheless, granting dedicated
seats to each minority group present in the country shall devoid the wider community and
can result in political resentment10. The jurisdictions work to protect the indigenous
people and their rights subject to the equal protection of the rights of the wider
community without resulting in disparity between the communities. Favourism by the
government will cause political resentment from the unfavoured group and hence, the
internal conventions for equal rights for everyone would be challenged.
The indigenous people from Norway, Finland, Sweden and the Kola Peninsula in
the northwestern region of Russia are called the Samis. The Samis are found mostly in
the Arctic regions, which is currently facing drastic transformations. The era of
modernization, globalization and liberalization has brought about huge climatic changes
paving way for global economic and social opportunities. These opportunities are the
driving factors for the critical analysis on the Artic governance11. With the increasing
environmental hazards and ecological disturbances, the modern man has embraced the
indigenous people’s lifestyle with open hands. They are very helpful to combine the
8 Philip Joseph “The Maori Seats in Parliament” (2009) New Zealand Centre for Political Research [“The Maori
Seats”].
9 Discussed in above paragraph.
10 Bob Jones “Maori seats give unwarranted influence based on race” (2008) New Zealand Centre for Political
Research.
11 “The Artic governance project: Artic governance in the era of transformative change-Critical questions,
governance principles, was found,” 14 April 2010, www.articgovernance.org.