Regional agreements and localism: A case study from Cape York Peninsula

Abstract

There are a number of important prerequisites before there can be any assurance that regional approaches to negotiating new institutional arrangements between Aboriginal and other interests can have any chance of success. This is the case whether Aboriginal leverage in negotiations is derived from the assertion of native title rights or otherwise. In Cape York Peninsula, Aboriginal people form a substantial proportion of the permanent population, and already control significant areas of land, including much of outstanding conservation value. There are broad similarities of political and cultural forms amongst the region's Aboriginal peoples. Over recent years, a number of significant Aboriginal peak bodies have been established, particularly the Cape York Land Council. Furthermore, there are processes and institutional arrangements already in place or being negotiated in the Cape which form a significant base on which regionalism as a set of political and institutional forms can develop. There are, however, major obstacles to the development of regional agreements in the Cape, most particularly those arising through the current uncertainties at State and national level in the response to Wik and other Indigenous policy issues. There is strong opposition to processes under the Native Title Act 1993, to proposed Aboriginal joint management regimes, and to the Cape York Peninsula Heads of Agreement by a number of non-Aboriginal locally and regionally based organisations and individuals who have proved highly adept at mobilising political support for their positions. While current amendments to the Native Title Act 1993 propose strengthening the capacity to negotiate regional agreements and Indigenous Land Use Agreements, other amendments such as changes to the right to negotiate and the schedule of tenures which confer exclusive possession have the capacity to remove the leverage upon which Aboriginal negotiations can meaningfully take place.

There are also impediments within the Aboriginal domain itself. The strong emphasis on localism poses significant problems for strategically and collectively addressing issues, developing responses and conducting negotiations across a region. Also, many Aboriginal people demonstrate a strong commitment to existing political structures and institutions, which in many cases have become deeply embedded within the Aboriginal political and economic domain. Furthermore, the difficult circumstances of everyday life for many Cape York Aboriginal people, as reflected in socioeconomic data on health, alcohol consumption, employment, income levels and so forth, can tend to ground people in the struggle for existence and for immediate advantage through existing structures and institutions rather than providing a dynamic for change.