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Caring for Country as Deliberative Policymaking

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Public Policy and Indigenous Futures

Part of the book series: Indigenous-Settler Relations in Australia and the World ((ISRAW,volume 4))

Abstract

Since the historic Mabo judgment and the recognition of native title, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have sought to reclaim their traditional lands and waters and reassert political authority and management responsibility over their cultural heritage and natural resources. This practice, referred to as ‘Caring for Country’, has evolved over time to become a prominent area of Indigenous public policy. As I will argue in this chapter, Caring for Country is an example of Indigenous led policy expertise and success that contrasts sharply with the decades of government administered Indigenous policy failure. Behind this success has been Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ belief that Caring for Country is not simply land management, but an exercise in Indigenous self-government. Drawing on deliberative democracy theory, I will argue that Caring for Country can be understood as a form of ‘deliberative policymaking’ in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people challenges state centred policymaking that expects Indigenous people to be passive recipients of state policy.

Justin McCaul is a descendent of the Mbarbarum people of far north Queensland. This paper derives from my Ph.D. thesis research analysing native title through the lens of deliberative democracy theory.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Caring for Country also includes sea country. However, all of my experience with Caring for Country groups was land based so I will not discuss managing sea country.

  2. 2.

    Various terms—self-determination, self-government, sovereignty—can be used to articulate Indigenous people’s desire for political autonomy, our resistance to ongoing settler colonialism, and demands that a new relationship between Indigenous people and the state be forged through negotiation. For the sake of simplicity and in keeping with the aim of this book to demonstrate Indigenous policy expertise, I use the term self-government.

  3. 3.

    My professional experience in native title and Caring for Country has predominantly been with Aboriginal groups in northern Australia. Accordingly, I limit my references to ‘Aboriginal people and groups’ rather than ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’ people. I also use the term ‘Indigenous’ in this paper.

  4. 4.

    The term Working on Country is the government name for the funding of Caring for Country activities. Between 2008–2018 the program was renamed Caring for Our Country, blurring the lines between what is a distinctly Indigenous mode of environmental management and government funding.

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  1. Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Justin McCaul

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  1. Justin McCaul
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Correspondence to Justin McCaul .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Nikki Moodie

  2. School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Sarah Maddison

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McCaul, J. (2023). Caring for Country as Deliberative Policymaking. In: Moodie, N., Maddison, S. (eds) Public Policy and Indigenous Futures. Indigenous-Settler Relations in Australia and the World, vol 4. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9319-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9319-0_4

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