NSWALC’s Key Treaty Principles & Pathway to Treaty

Inclusive, accountable and responsive to the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal peoples.
Genuinely advances Aboriginal people’s rights and interests.
Protects existing rights of, and gains made by, Aboriginal peoples (e.g., Aboriginal Land Claims and Aboriginal Land Agreements under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, representative structures).
Guarantee that the process & resulting model will not undermine existing beneficial government commitments, including in relation to NSW Aboriginal Land Rights.
Protects and strengthens existing self-determining Aboriginal community-controlled structures including Aboriginal Land Councils.
Are led and agreed by Aboriginal peoples and our representative structures.
Does not diminish Aboriginal sovereignty.
Advances self-determination and the standards established under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Does not foreclose on future advancement.
Does not waste the opportunity of reform.
Provide genuine mechanism for negotiating with Aboriginal peoples and for obtaining free, prior and informed consent.

Need to partner with representative Aboriginal community-controlled organisations.
The process must be a genuine partnership between Parliament and Aboriginal peoples.
Government needs to provide proper resourcing to support Aboriginal peaks to lead the process and for Aboriginal communities to participate.
Must be led by Aboriginal people.
It is important to partner with, and be led by, representative Aboriginal community-controlled organisations – e.g., Land Rights network, CAPO organisations – NSWALC, ALS, AECG, AH&MRC, BlaQ, AbSec, Link-Up, FPDN, ACHAA.
The process will need to allow time to gain the support of Aboriginal communities.
Inclusive engagements with Aboriginal people need to be prioritized.
The rights contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) provide a framework which can be used to guide both the development and content of any Treaty/ies.
It must be bipartisan.
Relevant Aboriginal Community-Controlled peaks should be at the table, particularly with respect to relevant areas.
Engagement should aim to be as inclusive as possible.
Important to build broad-based support – this includes Aboriginal communities, prominent Aboriginal individuals, supporter groups, political parties, and other arenas such as business, industry, Local Government, NGOs, Aboriginal businesses.