Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 2.2: Challenges at the National Policy Level
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Despite this, the practical erosion of native title rights and interests
continue to happen. Successive governments develop policies
theoretically advocating that indigenous peoples should have the
capacity to determine their own futures and consistently argue the need
for improved service delivery programs for the health and well-being of
Aboriginal people. In practice, this seldom happens.
Yet, the failure of native title legislation and the struggle for selfdetermination
are not mutually exclusive and the Australian government
is slowly coming to recognize that a positive outcome for land access
is fundamental to the capacity of indigenous peoples for decision
making. This is where the native title legislation has facilitated some
positive opportunities. In particular it has facilitated an evolving process
of engagement between Aboriginal people and the wider community.
This is a process that has broadened from a dialogue on land access to
include other issues such as health, education, employment, community
development, and social capital. It has also allowed a seat at the table
with major mining companies for economic opportunities under the “right
to negotiate” or “future act” provisions of the Act. Under this provision,
native title claimants and native title holders have the right to negotiate
over proposed activities or developments, such as major mining
developments, that may affect native title.
The right to negotiate does not provide a right for Aboriginal people to veto
or stop projects, which in itself is problematic. This is dealt with later under
the section on free, prior and informed consent, but we are increasingly
seeing organizations, from local community groups to major corporations,
negotiating local and regional level agreements with Aboriginal people not
only as a successful alternative to the litigation trail through the Federal
Court, but to reach agreement on benefits, such as major employment
and business development opportunities for local Aborigines.
In this respect, the Act has facilitated the right of indigenous peoples to
self-determination as set out under Article 3 of the UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in effect that indigenous peoples can freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Unfortunately,
however, this is now under threat with the development of new policies
by the Federal Government. In particular, the government is seeking
ways of controlling the flow of monetary benefits to traditional owners,
arguing that payments to individuals have been misspent and the benefits
of the resources being removed from land are being denied to future
generations. While in some cases this may be true, traditional owners
groups had been tackling the issue head on and were making some