This paper provides a background to issues discussed at a workshop held by AIATSIS in December 2009, and offers some of the outcomes in order to provide a basis for further debate and dialogue and to inform future forums.

This analysis of three native title agreements is primarily based on observations made at a two-day workshop which aimed to gain firsthand accounts of the role of comprehensive settlements in progressing Indigenous and government aspirations for native title and to identify possible benchmarks for such settlements.

The concept of ‘shared sovereignty’ is examined as a contribution to the debate on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada and Australia.

The Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) was established in 1995 by the Keating Government as one element of its three-part response to the Mabo judgment. The first part was the Native Title Act (1993), which validated past grants of land to settlers and set up a process for claiming and registering surviving rights of native title...

This paper argues that the policy gap revealed by this event should be filled by a national commitment to serious consideration of evidence, and recognition of Indigenous language rights. It is anticipated that this paper will stimulate political discussion on using evidence-based research to improve education for Australia’s Indigenous children.