First Nations in Australia are beginning to grapple with processes of treaty‐making with state go... more First Nations in Australia are beginning to grapple with processes of treaty‐making with state governments and territories. As these processes gain momentum, truth‐telling has become a central tenet of imagining Indigenous emancipation and the possibility of transforming relationships between Indigenous and settler peoples. Truth, it is suggested, will enable changed ways of knowing what and who “Australia” is. These dynamics assume that truth‐telling will benefit all people, but will truth be enough to compel change and provide an emancipated future for Indigenous people? This article reports on Australian truth‐telling processes in Victoria, and draws on two sets of extant literature to understand the lessons and outcomes of international experience that provide crucial insights for these processes—that on truth‐telling commissions broadly, and that focusing specifically on a comparable settler colonial state process, the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The article p...
This book is the first in a new series devoted specifically to understanding and transforming Ind... more This book is the first in a new series devoted specifically to understanding and transforming Indigenous-settler relations in Australia and the world. The series aims to bring together scholars interested in examining contemporary Indigenous affairs through questions of relationality. This is a unique approach that represents a deliberate move away from both settler-colonial studies, which examines historical and present impacts of settler states upon Indigenous peoples, and from postcolonial and decolonial scholarship, which is predominantly interested in how Indigenous peoples speak back to the settler state. Closely connected to, but with meaningful contrast to these approaches, the Indigenous-settler relations series will focus sharply upon questions about what informs, shapes and gives social, legal and political life to relations between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, both in Australia and globally. The multi-faceted approach to Indigenous-settler relations that will define the series seeks to capture how questions of relationality are already being asked by scholars across disciplines including political science, history, sociology, law, media, and cultural studies. As the first volume in the series, this book seeks to define this emerging field. In the chapters that follow, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors explore Indigenous-settler relations in terms of what the relational characteristics are, who steps into these relations and how, the different temporal and historical moments in which these relations take place and to what effect, where these relations exist around the world and the variations the relations take on in different places, and why these relations are important for the examination of social and political life in the twenty-first century.
In 2004 The Australia Institute led a survey of the non-government sector and produced the report... more In 2004 The Australia Institute led a survey of the non-government sector and produced the report Silencing Dissent: Non-government organisations and Australian democracy. It concluded that NGOs felt the government was undermining their credibility, shutting them out of civic discourse, defunding (or threatening to defund) organisations that were considered uncooperative, and micromanaging NGO activities by dismantling peak bodies. The report detailed the growing fears across the NGO sector concerning their right to advocate in the public policy domains of most concern to them, and more broadly about their changing role in the democratic process. A lot has happened in the 13 years since this report was published including changes to the political and regulatory landscape, the formation of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission, the passing of the Charities Act and advances in the digital landscape. However the threat to advocacy remains a concern. Civil Voices set ou...
o k-review-the-wo mens-mo vement-in-pro test-institutio ns-and-theinternet-australia-in-transnati... more o k-review-the-wo mens-mo vement-in-pro test-institutio ns-and-theinternet-australia-in-transnatio nal-perspective/ Blo g Admin
The Limits of Settler Colonial Reconciliation, 2016
Schools are understood as an important site for the circulation of discourses pertaining to colon... more Schools are understood as an important site for the circulation of discourses pertaining to colonisation and reconciliation. Wider community educational practices have also engaged with these concerns, including initiatives such as the Reconciliation Study Circle Kits that were developed by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in Australia in the 1990s. This paper considers the role of school and community education in developing non-Indigenous Australians’ understanding of, and engagement with, Australia’s post-invasion history and reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Drawing on original focus group and interview research the paper highlights some of the key areas where education appears to have transformed non-Indigenous perspectives in recent decades, while also highlighting areas for further policy and curriculum development.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
In nations with a record of historical injustice, guilt about the past is deeply implicated in bo... more In nations with a record of historical injustice, guilt about the past is deeply implicated in both efforts towards reconciliation and the construction of national identity. This is as true in notionally postcolonial nations, where past injustice is often denied or avoided, as it is in situations where conflict and injustice have been more recent, overt or visible to the
Contemporary Indigenous affairs is awash with the language of crisis. The dominant state response... more Contemporary Indigenous affairs is awash with the language of crisis. The dominant state response is focused on developing Indigenous responsibility (rather than rights) through coercive policy interventions. Yet this view, justified by an assessment that 'the old ways haven't worked', overlooks the energy and creativity with which Aboriginal and Torres Strait
The public policy arena is a complex framework of actors, politics and instruments. An Introducti... more The public policy arena is a complex framework of actors, politics and instruments. An Introduction to Australian Public Policy, Second Edition examines the broad range of models, influences and players that shape the development of public policy in Australia, and equips students with a working knowledge of both the theoretical underpinnings and real-world challenges of the field. Fully revised and updated, the new edition addresses the diverse approaches to policy formulation required by different practitioners and institutions. Accessible and engaging, this edition includes: a new chapter on policy evaluation; practical exercises on how to write policy briefs and media releases and eleven new, concise case studies from Australia's top public policy practitioners. The book is accompanied by a companion website which contains chapter summaries and a glossary. Widely regarded as the best introduction to Australian public policy available, the book is an essential resource for und...
There is a tension in the evidence-based policy paradigm as it concerns Aboriginal and Torres Str... more There is a tension in the evidence-based policy paradigm as it concerns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly with regard to their standing as evidence providers. Aboriginal people in Australia have primarily been seen as a 'problem to be solved' and racialised views of Aboriginal competence have allowed for past policy, now recognised as harmful, to be justified as being 'for their own good'. This article considers some of the complexities of the evidence-based policy paradigm as it applies to the Indigenous policy domain, arguing that in such a turbulent field the use of evidence is inevitably ideological and selective. The article concludes that, in light of persistent institutional inequalities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and perspectives in genuine dialogue about policy is the only way to navigate this difficult terrain with any chance of success.
First Nations in Australia are beginning to grapple with processes of treaty‐making with state go... more First Nations in Australia are beginning to grapple with processes of treaty‐making with state governments and territories. As these processes gain momentum, truth‐telling has become a central tenet of imagining Indigenous emancipation and the possibility of transforming relationships between Indigenous and settler peoples. Truth, it is suggested, will enable changed ways of knowing what and who “Australia” is. These dynamics assume that truth‐telling will benefit all people, but will truth be enough to compel change and provide an emancipated future for Indigenous people? This article reports on Australian truth‐telling processes in Victoria, and draws on two sets of extant literature to understand the lessons and outcomes of international experience that provide crucial insights for these processes—that on truth‐telling commissions broadly, and that focusing specifically on a comparable settler colonial state process, the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The article p...
This book is the first in a new series devoted specifically to understanding and transforming Ind... more This book is the first in a new series devoted specifically to understanding and transforming Indigenous-settler relations in Australia and the world. The series aims to bring together scholars interested in examining contemporary Indigenous affairs through questions of relationality. This is a unique approach that represents a deliberate move away from both settler-colonial studies, which examines historical and present impacts of settler states upon Indigenous peoples, and from postcolonial and decolonial scholarship, which is predominantly interested in how Indigenous peoples speak back to the settler state. Closely connected to, but with meaningful contrast to these approaches, the Indigenous-settler relations series will focus sharply upon questions about what informs, shapes and gives social, legal and political life to relations between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, both in Australia and globally. The multi-faceted approach to Indigenous-settler relations that will define the series seeks to capture how questions of relationality are already being asked by scholars across disciplines including political science, history, sociology, law, media, and cultural studies. As the first volume in the series, this book seeks to define this emerging field. In the chapters that follow, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors explore Indigenous-settler relations in terms of what the relational characteristics are, who steps into these relations and how, the different temporal and historical moments in which these relations take place and to what effect, where these relations exist around the world and the variations the relations take on in different places, and why these relations are important for the examination of social and political life in the twenty-first century.
In 2004 The Australia Institute led a survey of the non-government sector and produced the report... more In 2004 The Australia Institute led a survey of the non-government sector and produced the report Silencing Dissent: Non-government organisations and Australian democracy. It concluded that NGOs felt the government was undermining their credibility, shutting them out of civic discourse, defunding (or threatening to defund) organisations that were considered uncooperative, and micromanaging NGO activities by dismantling peak bodies. The report detailed the growing fears across the NGO sector concerning their right to advocate in the public policy domains of most concern to them, and more broadly about their changing role in the democratic process. A lot has happened in the 13 years since this report was published including changes to the political and regulatory landscape, the formation of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission, the passing of the Charities Act and advances in the digital landscape. However the threat to advocacy remains a concern. Civil Voices set ou...
o k-review-the-wo mens-mo vement-in-pro test-institutio ns-and-theinternet-australia-in-transnati... more o k-review-the-wo mens-mo vement-in-pro test-institutio ns-and-theinternet-australia-in-transnatio nal-perspective/ Blo g Admin
The Limits of Settler Colonial Reconciliation, 2016
Schools are understood as an important site for the circulation of discourses pertaining to colon... more Schools are understood as an important site for the circulation of discourses pertaining to colonisation and reconciliation. Wider community educational practices have also engaged with these concerns, including initiatives such as the Reconciliation Study Circle Kits that were developed by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in Australia in the 1990s. This paper considers the role of school and community education in developing non-Indigenous Australians’ understanding of, and engagement with, Australia’s post-invasion history and reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Drawing on original focus group and interview research the paper highlights some of the key areas where education appears to have transformed non-Indigenous perspectives in recent decades, while also highlighting areas for further policy and curriculum development.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
In nations with a record of historical injustice, guilt about the past is deeply implicated in bo... more In nations with a record of historical injustice, guilt about the past is deeply implicated in both efforts towards reconciliation and the construction of national identity. This is as true in notionally postcolonial nations, where past injustice is often denied or avoided, as it is in situations where conflict and injustice have been more recent, overt or visible to the
Contemporary Indigenous affairs is awash with the language of crisis. The dominant state response... more Contemporary Indigenous affairs is awash with the language of crisis. The dominant state response is focused on developing Indigenous responsibility (rather than rights) through coercive policy interventions. Yet this view, justified by an assessment that 'the old ways haven't worked', overlooks the energy and creativity with which Aboriginal and Torres Strait
The public policy arena is a complex framework of actors, politics and instruments. An Introducti... more The public policy arena is a complex framework of actors, politics and instruments. An Introduction to Australian Public Policy, Second Edition examines the broad range of models, influences and players that shape the development of public policy in Australia, and equips students with a working knowledge of both the theoretical underpinnings and real-world challenges of the field. Fully revised and updated, the new edition addresses the diverse approaches to policy formulation required by different practitioners and institutions. Accessible and engaging, this edition includes: a new chapter on policy evaluation; practical exercises on how to write policy briefs and media releases and eleven new, concise case studies from Australia's top public policy practitioners. The book is accompanied by a companion website which contains chapter summaries and a glossary. Widely regarded as the best introduction to Australian public policy available, the book is an essential resource for und...
There is a tension in the evidence-based policy paradigm as it concerns Aboriginal and Torres Str... more There is a tension in the evidence-based policy paradigm as it concerns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly with regard to their standing as evidence providers. Aboriginal people in Australia have primarily been seen as a 'problem to be solved' and racialised views of Aboriginal competence have allowed for past policy, now recognised as harmful, to be justified as being 'for their own good'. This article considers some of the complexities of the evidence-based policy paradigm as it applies to the Indigenous policy domain, arguing that in such a turbulent field the use of evidence is inevitably ideological and selective. The article concludes that, in light of persistent institutional inequalities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and perspectives in genuine dialogue about policy is the only way to navigate this difficult terrain with any chance of success.
Unsettling the settler state: Creativity and resistance in Indigenous settler-state governance, 2011
Debates in contemporary Indigenous affairs rarely question the settler-state framework and its ac... more Debates in contemporary Indigenous affairs rarely question the settler-state framework and its accompanying institutions and processes. This silence persists despite Indigenous efforts to engage the settler-colonial order through repeated calls for treaties, for constitutional change, for self-determination and for better representation on the national political stage. These Indigenous efforts to enter into dialogue with mainstream Australia have thus far received little or no reciprocal movement from the settler state and its associated institutions.
To advance Indigenous affairs governance and develop a dialogue for improved Settler-Indigenous relations in the 21st century requires unsettling the silences around the settler-state and its institutions and processes. Instead, we need dialogue and exchange between Indigenous and Settler orders. Only by embracing the challenges of governance in an open an unapologetic way will we be able to address the anxieties associated with Indigenous governance and contribute to healing the persistent sore of the wider Indigenous-Settler relations that continue to trouble the Australian community.
To address these challenges, Unsettling the Setter State documents and analyses contemporary Indigenous efforts to engage with the settler state and its institutions. Chapters by Indigenous authors and settler interpreters and counterparts highlight Aboriginal creativity, vibrancy, and resistance while providing a crucial resource and pathways for rethinking governance and decolonising Australia in the 21st century.
Around the world there is a widespread view that women’s movements are a thing of the past. In ma... more Around the world there is a widespread view that women’s movements are a thing of the past. In many Western countries, the movement is much less visible and influential today than it was during the heyday of the 1970s ‘second wave’, with smaller numbers attending protest events and a far less obvious ‘femocrat’ presence in government. Understanding the legacies of the women’s movement lends insight to how women everywhere might organise for the political challenges of the future. This book argues and demonstrates that the women’s movement is still alive—if not quite kicking. It explores the ways in which the movement is continuing to work its way through institutions, and persists within submerged networks, cultural production and in everyday living, sustaining itself in non-receptive political environments and maintaining a discursive feminist space for generations to come. Set in a transnational perspective the authors trace the legacies of the Australian women’s movement to the present day in protest, non-government organisations, government organisations, popular culture, the Internet and the Slut Walk. It will be of interest to international students and scholars of gender politics, gender studies, social movement studies and comparative politics.
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Papers by Sarah Maddison
To advance Indigenous affairs governance and develop a dialogue for improved Settler-Indigenous relations in the 21st century requires unsettling the silences around the settler-state and its institutions and processes. Instead, we need dialogue and exchange between Indigenous and Settler orders. Only by embracing the challenges of governance in an open an unapologetic way will we be able to address the anxieties associated with Indigenous governance and contribute to healing the persistent sore of the wider Indigenous-Settler relations that continue to trouble the Australian community.
To address these challenges, Unsettling the Setter State documents and analyses contemporary Indigenous efforts to engage with the settler state and its institutions. Chapters by Indigenous authors and settler interpreters and counterparts highlight Aboriginal creativity, vibrancy, and resistance while providing a crucial resource and pathways for rethinking governance and decolonising Australia in the 21st century.
Understanding the legacies of the women’s movement lends insight to how women everywhere might organise for the political challenges of the future. This book argues and demonstrates that the women’s movement is still alive—if not quite kicking. It explores the ways in which the movement is continuing to work its way through institutions, and persists within submerged networks, cultural production and in everyday living, sustaining itself in non-receptive political environments and maintaining a discursive feminist space for generations to come. Set in a transnational perspective the authors trace the legacies of the Australian women’s movement to the present day in protest, non-government organisations, government organisations, popular culture, the Internet and the Slut Walk.
It will be of interest to international students and scholars of gender politics, gender studies, social movement studies and comparative politics.