Shifting State Constructions of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara: Changes to the South Australian Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1981-2006
Creators: name: Tedmanson, Deirdre
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2016
Subjects: land rights
self-determination
recognition theory
critical policy analysis
decolonisation
APY Lands

description: The Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act (PLRA), passed by the Parliament of South Australia in 1981, was a milestone for Indigenous self-determination in Australia and a pinnacle of Anangu/state relations. Although passed under Liberal Premier David Tonkin, the PLRA had its roots in the leadership of Labor’s Don Dunstan, Premier for over a decade until 1979 and before that Aboriginal Affairs Minister. Dunstan’s vision for Indigenous land rights and self-determination for the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands was embraced by both major parties. This historic achievement of communal land title and community self-determination was also the result of a five-year campaign by the Pitjantjatjara Council (PC) formed by Anangu in 1976. The PLRA created Anangu Pitjantjatjara (AP) as the ‘body corporate’ of Traditional Owners (TOs) and, through an elected Executive, empowered Anangu decision-making over development, access and other matters. By 2004 the Rann Labor Government was arguing that self-determination on the APY Lands had failed and seeking to appoint an Administrator to oversee the Lands. Over the next two years, amidst much contestation, Rann gained Opposition support to substantially amend the PLRA. Amendments re-asserted SA Government oversight and control of the Lands through ministerial powers to direct the Executive, or to suspend it and appoint an Administrator, amongst other changes. This thesis is a narrative account and critical analysis of what happened, how and why in the 25 years between the passing of the PLRA 1981 and its amendment into the APYLRA by 2006. It draws on two bodies of social science literature, critical policy analysis and political theory on Indigenous rights. Conceptually it argues that framing is an important part of the policy process. Using interpretative and critical policy thinkers like Colebatch, Bacchi and Fischer, the thesis considers how problems were identified and issues problematized in the politics of policy-making. It locates this discussion within broader questions of recognition, sovereignty, decolonisation and power. The thesis argues that the original policy context for the PLRA sought greater self-determination as justice for Anangu, enhancing the social well-being of their communities and reversing some of the debilitating effects of colonisation. In a very different framing 25 years later, Anangu leadership and governance were blamed for social ills in their communities, such as petrol sniffing. Despite two Coronial Inquests identifying inadequate government service delivery as contributing to the persistence of petrol sniffing on the Lands, the State Government targeted self-determination as the problem. Anangu community-control was pathologised, whereas in 1981 it had been eulogized. Drawing on the work of political theorists Kymlicka, Tully, Taylor and Fraser on minority rights and the politics of recognition, the thesis explores possibilities and limitations of self-determination within the context of the APY Lands. While the 1981 PLRA optimistically promoted Anangu self-determination as a form of internal decolonisation, this thesis argues that policy shifts through to 2006 mark a substantial retreat from the politics of recognition and minority rights.