Selected papers from the centre's National Forum on Indigenous Health and the Treaty Debate are now available online. Speakers included Olga Havnen, NSW Aboriginal Land Council; Ria Earp, Deputy Director General, Maori Health, Ministry of Health (NZ); Dea Delaney Thiele, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health; and Fred Chaney AO, Co-Chair, Reconciliation Australia.

While the recent WTO agreement allowing developing countries to import life-saving drugs by bypassing patent laws is beneficial, a majority of the drugs used to combat epidemics are off-patent or not patented in many developing countries. Consequently, according to Bryan Mercurio, the agreement will do very little to assist those nations in preventing and treating...

If Australia does choose to go down the path of modern treaty-making then inevitably it will be influenced by the opportunities created and the limitations imposed by the native title system, argues Sean Brennan.

When Parliament enacted the Native Title Act 1993 it left fundamental questions to be resolved by the judiciary. High Court decisions in three test cases in 2002 substantially defined the potential of native title. Proceeding on a mistaken view of Parliament's intention, the court confirmed a doctrine of extinguishment highly destructive of the original rights...

In his submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee inquiry into an Australian republic, George Williams outlines immediate priorities that could be achieved by legislative rather than constitutional change, as well as the process by which an Australian republic might be achieved.