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  • 01 Understanding governance
    • 1.0 Understanding governance
    • 1.1 The important parts of governance
    • 1.2 Indigenous governance
    • 1.3 Governance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations
    • 1.4 Case studies
  • 02 Culture and governance
    • 2.0 Culture and governance
    • 2.1 Indigenous governance and culture
    • 2.2 Two-way governance
    • 2.3 Case studies
  • 03 Getting started
    • 3.0 Getting started on building your governance
    • 3.1 Assessing your governance
    • 3.2 Mapping your community for governance
    • 3.3 Case studies
  • 04 Leadership
    • 4.0 Leadership for governance
    • 4.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership
    • 4.2 The challenges of leadership
    • 4.3 Evaluating your leadership
    • 4.4 Youth leadership and succession planning
    • 4.5 Building leadership capacity to govern
    • 4.6 Case studies
  • 05 Governing the organisation
    • 5.0 Governing the organisation
    • 5.1 Roles, responsibilities and rights of a governing body
    • 5.2 Accountability: what is it, to whom and how?
    • 5.3 Decision making by the governing body
    • 5.4 Governing finances and resources
    • 5.5 Communicating
    • 5.6 Future planning
    • 5.7 Building capacity and confidence for governing bodies
    • 5.8 Case studies
  • 06 Rules and policies
    • 6.0 Governance rules and policies
    • 6.1 What are governance rules?
    • 6.2 Governance rules and culture
    • 6.3 Running effective meetings
    • 6.4 Policies for organisations
    • 6.5 Case studies
  • 07 Management and staff
    • 7.0 Management and staff
    • 7.1 Managing the organisation
    • 7.2 The governing body and management
    • 7.3 Managing staff
    • 7.4 Staff development and training
    • 7.5 Case studies
  • 08 Disputes and complaints
    • 8.0 Dealing with disputes and complaints
    • 8.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous approaches
    • 8.2 Core principles and skills for dispute and complaint resolution
    • 8.3 Disputes and complaints about governance
    • 8.4 Your members: dealing with disputes and complaints
    • 8.5 Organisations: dealing with internal disputes and complaints
    • 8.6 Practical guidelines and approaches
    • 8.7 Case studies
  • 09 Nation building and development
    • 9.0 Governance for nation rebuilding and development
    • 9.1 What is nation rebuilding?
    • 9.2 Governance for nation rebuilding
    • 9.3 Governance for sustained development
    • 9.4 Networked governance
    • 9.5 Kick-starting the process of nation rebuilding
    • 9.6 Case studies
  • Glossary
  • Useful links
  • Acknowledgements

9.1 What is nation rebuilding?

 09 Nation building and development

As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups in Australia continue with their work of rebuilding systems of governance and look for new governing tools to assist them, they are faced with fundamental questions about their own collective cultural identities, such as:

  • Who are the members of the group, clan, tribe or community that we might now call our nation?
  • What do we value and what are we trying to protect?
  • What kind of laws, relationships and behaviours do we want to foster among ourselves?
  • What kind of future do we want to create for our grandchildren?
  • What kind of relationship do we want to have with other Indigenous nations, and with Australian governments?
  • What kind of governing arrangements will we need to achieve those goals?

In other words, how do we constitute ourselves as an effective polity (that is, an organised form or process of governing or government) in contemporary times?

These questions deal with the very practical tasks of self-determination and nation rebuilding.

Definition: A nation refers to a group or community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent or history. A nation may share a single common territory with physical boundaries and government, or it may be located as a nation within another lager nation.

The concept of ‘nation’ in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia can include:

  • a small clan or tribal unit
  • a native title–holder or traditional land-owning group
  • people who are dispersed across a wide region or city, but see themselves as a single cultural unit
  • a discrete community whose differently related residents share the desire to collectively govern themselves.

A nation does not rely on legislated or treaty recognition, although that greatly enhances its jurisdictional and decision-making power:

“Understood as a human right, the essential idea of self-determination is that human beings, individually and as groups, are equally entitled to be in control of their own destinies, and to live within governing institutional orders that are devised accordingly.”
(James Anaya, quoted in conference report on ‘Common Roots, Common Futures: Different Paths to Self-determination—An international Conversation’,
University of Arizona, 2012)

Definition: Self-determination refers to genuine decision-making power and responsibility about what happens on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ lands, in their affairs, in their governing systems, and in their development strategies. It means having meaningful control over one’s own life and cultural wellbeing.

As decision-making power and responsibility moves from external authorities into the hands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, self-determination grows.

Governance of this kind does not refer to self-administration or self-management of programs and services that are controlled by outside authorities.

Definition: Nation rebuilding thus “refers to the processes by which a Native [Indigenous] nation enhances its own foundational capacity for effective self-governance and for self-determined community and economic development” (Miriam Jorgensen, Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development, Editor’s Foreword, University of Arizona Press, 2007).

Nation rebuilding is really about how Indigenous peoples can pull together the tools they need to build the futures that they want—and put them into place.

By tools, we mean the rules, processes, checks and balances, and structures of governance.

What does nation building mean to us?

nnidatabase.org Visit

While there are many cultural, historical and legal differences between the situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia and the Indigenous peoples of the United States of America, there are important commonalities in their desire to rebuild their governance and nations in this way. In this video link, Indigenous leaders from the United States define what nation building means to them, and what it entails for people who are working to reclaim control over their own affairs and build vibrant futures of their own design.

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Case Studies

NPY Women’s Council – strong culture, strong women, strong communities

  NPY Women’s Council (NPYWC) was set up in 1980 and incorporated in 1994.  The organisation was founded in response to the concerns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women throughout the APY lands.   The women were concerned about the …

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Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly

Self-determination and community control The Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly (MPRA) is comprised of the Chairs or representatives of 16 Aboriginal Community Working Parties (CWP’s) across the Murdi Paaki Region of NSW. MPRA see self-determination as the key success to their …

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NPY Women’s Council: Building your cultural guiding principles into your rulebook

The NPY Women’s Council became incorporated under new legislation in 2008. The council undertook a significant period of consultation with its members—spread across a large geographic region—in the lead-up to lodging its new rulebook (formally known as the constitution) with …

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News

ORIC Top 500 Report 2014-15

The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) released the 2014-2015 top 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations report in December 2015. This is ORIC’s seventh report on the top 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations. It collates and …

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Social Justice Commissioner launches 2014 Social Justice and Native Title Report

Mr Mick Gooda is the current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. The Commissioner has a unique role at the Australian Human Rights Commission, responsible for advocating for the recognition of the rights of Indigenous Australians. As part …

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Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2014 Report

The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report: Key Indicators 2014 (OID Report) was released by the Productivity Commission in November 2014. The OID Report measures the wellbeing of Australia’s Indigenous peoples. The report provides information about outcomes across a range of strategic …

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The Australian Indigenous Governance Institute

The Australian Indigenous Governance Institute is a unique Indigenous led national centre of governance knowledge and excellence. We know that practically effective and culturally legitimate governance is the staple building block for delivering real change.

We assist Indigenous Australians in their diverse efforts to determine and strengthen their own sustainable systems of self-governance by identifying world-class governance practice, informing effective policy, providing accessible research, disseminating stories that celebrate outstanding success and solutions, and delivering professional education and training opportunities.

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