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In 2006, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner conducted a national survey of Indigenous Australians living on Indigenous land. There were 54 survey respondents, which included traditional land owners, as well as other Indigenous Australians with interests in land and land-use. The survey questions asked Indigenous respondents to identify their aspirations for their land and to identify their capacity to earn an income from the land. The survey findings are as follows:

<ul> <li><a href="#Heading2110">5.1 Introduction </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2126">5.2 The importance of Nations </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2162">5.3 Framework for Indigenous governance </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2189">5.4 Community governance: a Nation building approach</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2288">5.5 Australian accounts of successful nation building</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2354">5.6 Voices of Nations, not just national voices</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2421">5.7 Conclusions and recommendations</a></li> </ul> <hr>

Our challenge for the future is to embrace a new partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The core of this partnership for the future is closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians on life expectancy, educational achievement and employment opportunities.

"I move: That the South Australian Parliament expresses its deep and sincere regret at the forced separation of some Aboriginal children from their families and homes which occurred prior to 1964, apologises to these Aboriginal people for these past actions and reaffirms its support for reconciliation between all Australians."

Improving the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is a longstanding challenge for governments in Australia. While there have been improvements made in some areas since the 1970s (notably in reducing high rates of infant mortality1) overall progress has been slow and inconsistent. The inequality gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians remains wide and has not been progressively reduced.

In 2006 the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet made a revealing statement about Indigenous affairs. He argued that his own government’s policy performance in the Indigenous portfolio had been a failure. He went further to say that while well intentioned, the policies and approaches of the past 30 years had contributed to poor outcomes for Indigenous people.

<p>The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner thanks the following people and organisations for their assistance in preparing the <em>Social Justice and Native Title Report 2013</em>:</p>

17 February 2009: The UK Human Rights Act as a ‘parliamentary model’ of rights protection: lessons for Australia, presented by Murray Hunt - Legal Advisor to the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights.

Native title is now well established in Australian law. The native title system was set up in 1994 under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (the Native Title Act). It is for gaining recognition and protection of native title, and for resolving native title matters. It has been successfully used in many parts of the country.

On 3 June 1992 the High Court of Australia handed down its decision in Mabo v Queensland (No.2) (1992) 175 CLR 1. This decision constitutes the first recognition of indigenous property rights at common law in Australia. The Court rejected the previously existing view that Australia was terra nullius (or land belonging to no-one) upon settlement by Europeans in 1788.