Aboriginal Peace Plan Group --- "Mabo - The Aboriginal Peace Plan" [1993] AboriginalLawB 19; (1993) 3(62) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 8

• Mabo-The Aboriginal Peace Plan
• Media Statement
• The Aboriginal Peace Plan

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Mabo -

The Aboriginal Peace Plan

On 27 April 1993, the Prime Minister invited key Aboriginal organisations to a meeting with his ministerial committee in Canberra. At that meeting senior Aboriginal leaders presented a Peace Plan. A summary is presented below.

Media Statement

On 3 June 1993, representatives of major Aboriginal Land Councils and Legal Services released their own proposal for a just settlement of indigenous rights following the Mabo judgment.

This proposal, known as the Aboriginal Peace Plan, was presented to the Prime Minister on 27 April, 1993. It provides a package of eight key principles which must be adopted if there is to be Aboriginal support for the Prime Minister's hope that Mabo provides the basis for national reconciliation.

Fundamental to the Peace Plan is that the Commonwealth Government use its Constitutional power to take the lead in legislating to over-ride State and Territory Governments and affirm and protect Aboriginal rights.

Releasing the Plan, Aboriginal leaders stressed that it was a package which was to lay the basis for reconciliation and just settlement of indigenous rights into the next millennium. It must be read and implemented as a package, no single element can be extracted to stand alone.

The Plan recognises that a just resolution to Mabo must also address the aspirations of Aboriginal people who have borne the brunt of colonisation and been dispossessed of their traditional lands.

The Peace Plan is not simply a list of ambit claims. It acknowledges the impact of the Mabo decision and the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) and the consequent question mark over land titles issued since 1975, and provides a framework for providing certainty to these land titles.

The Peace Plan takes as its starting point that Mabo is a matter of indigenous human rights. This is in stark contrast to the perspective taken by the Commonwealth bureaucrats in the Discussion Paper (see this issue pp. 4-7), which sees Mabo primarily as a land management problem.

The only firm commitment in the Discussion Paper principles is to validate non-Aboriginal titles. The recent debacle over the McArthur River Mining Leases in the Northern Territory (see Garth hlettheim's article in this issue, pp.15-16) is the only definitive action taken by governments to date, and it is solely concerned with the interests of the mining company.

The Discussion Paper is full of references to "comparable titles" and the so-called "principle of non-discrimination". These are a nonsense. The Aboriginal relationship to land is different and special. It cannot be compared to non-Aboriginal land. And Aboriginal people are different, that difference must be recognised. You can't treat as equals people who have been discriminated against for over 200 years.

The Aboriginal representatives called on the Prime Minister to set a process for a negotiated settlement to Mabo. Attempts to impose a settlement will simply not work.

The Aboriginal Peace Plan

Over-riding Commonwealth legislation to provide for –

1. Recognition and protection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) rights
2. ATSI Title not to be extinguished by grants (co-existence and revival)
3. ATSI Title not to be extinguished or impaired unilaterally without consent
4. Declaration of ATSI Title in Reserves and other defined lands
5. A Tribunal to issue declarations of ATSI Land Title
6. A Long Term Settlement Process for benefit of all ATSI people
7. Total security for sacred sites and heritage areas and for the Commonwealth to
8. Negotiate with ATSI people towards Constitutional recognition of ATSI rights

In exchange for the Commonwealth's acceptance of the above proposals the legislation proposed might include -

(a) Validation of 1975-1992 mineral titles that might otherwise be invalid due to the Racial Discrimination Act, subject to the Commonwealth and each of such miners entering into an agreement in relation to issues such as –

(i) protection of sacred sites
(ii) compensation for disturbance
(iii) environmental protection
(iv) remuneration for the value of the minerals, and
(v) other issues as appropriate to each case, and
If no agreement is reached the terms of such agreement will be determined by the tribunal via processes and time frames to be agreed.

(b) Pending conclusion of the Settlement Process, mining interests granted since June 1992 also validated subject to consent and agreement.

• The Commonwealth to provide adequate resources and funding to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to fully participate in the process.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' representatives are to participate as members of the drafting team for all legislation.