An anthropological perspective

• Mary Edmunds
• Whitlam Institute

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02 December 2010The Northern Territory Intervention has been surrounded in controversy since day one. Three and a half years later the intervention continues, but we now have a chance to take stock in search of a just response to a complex problem.  
  
In this essay Dr Mary Edmunds draws together the history, circumstance, culture, principles and practice surrounding the Northern Territory Intervention. Key to her argument is that the Northern Territory Intervention has, for all of its drawbacks, provided an opportunity to review and reapproach how government enables or prevents the exercise of Aboriginal human rights.  
  
The paper is a passionate exposition that opens the space for engaging with ideas of poverty, abuse, governance and human rights in Aboriginal Australia. It is a considered and robust examination of the tension between our human rights obligations, the imperative to act, and the way these intentions are experienced on the ground.  
  
The essay was commissioned by the Whitlam Institute within the University of Western Sydney.  It is the latest in the “Perspectives” series of essays by respected public intellectuals designed to canvass ideas and put forward views on the policies that would shape a better, fairer Australia.   
  
Dr Edmunds is a social anthropologist who has carried out research on social change in Thailand, Spain, and Aboriginal Australia. She was a foundation Research Fellow of the Native Title Research Unit of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and subsequently AIATSIS Director of Research. She was a member of the National Native Title Tribunal for eight years, a member of the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee, and a Senior Research Fellow at the ANU’s Centre for Cross-Cultural Research. 
  
From mid-2006 to early 2009, she acted as Rio Tinto’s lead negotiator for the Rio Tinto Pilbara Native Title Agreements Project. She is currently an Acting Commissioner for the NSW Land and Environment Court for applications under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act and is an accredited practitioner member of LEADR and accredited under the National Mediator Accreditation System. She is also a member of the Human Rights Council of Australia. 
  
The Whitlam Institute’s “Perspectives” essay series is designed to encourage creative, even bold, thinking and occasionally new ways of looking at the challenges of the 21st Century in the hope that the enthusiasm and insights of these authors sparks further thought and debate among policy makers and the wider community.