Privatised Autonomy for the Noongar People of Australia - a sui generis Model for Indigenous Non-territorial Self-government

The Noongar people of the federal state of Western Australia have recently entered into what can be described as the most comprehensive settlement of a native title claim that spans an area of 200 000 square kilometres. The Settlement lays the foundation of a sui generis model for indigenous and minority self-determination in Australia and beyond. The Settlement sits between the spheres of public law and private law and provides for a form of non-territorial autonomy that is unique not only to Australia. The Noongar people are acknowledged as the traditional owners of the entire area, albeit that major other towns and cities are located in the area and the Noongar people only constitute very small minority. Whereas the topic of non-territorial self-government has been mainly explored in theory and in practice in the European domain, the Noongar Settlement shows how the principles that embody non-territorial autonomy may find root in other parts of the world. The potential relevance of the Noongar Settlement for non-territorial self-government of Aboriginal people or other minorities lies in four essential elements: firstly, creating for the Noongar people legal Corporations by statute for purposes of their self-government; secondly, decentralising powers and functions to the Corporations to enable them to perform the functions of a community government to its members; thirdly, to enable the elected Corporations to develop policies, make decisions and deliver pubic services on a personal rather than a geographical basis to the members of the community; and fourthly, to allow the Corporations to cooperate with and engage other levels of government within the system of intergovernmental relations in Australia. The Noongar Corporations, in effect, have the hallmarks of a fourth level government and represent a potential sui generis model for indigenous and minority non-territorial self-government

Autonomy · Business · Indigenous · Political science · Sociology · Statute · Law · Legal principles and applications · Public Administration

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