A constitutional framework for indigenous governance

Abstract

This article argues that there needs to be a conceptual shift in how we understand the constitutional framework of government in Australia. Fundamental to this shift is an understanding that Indigenous governance exists and is practiced at various levels in the Australian polity, and that the formal institutions of the Australian state already accommodate Indigenous governance in various forms, albeit implicitly. Australia’s experience of federalism means that it is well placed to make this shift in understanding. The shift must occur as Commonwealth and state Indigenous policies are, ultimately, only as strong as the framework of governance that supports them.