Marcia Langton (editor) - Community Futures, Legal Architecture: Foundations for Indigenous Peoples in the Global Mining Boom

How are indigenous and local people faring in their dealings with mining and related industries in the first part of the 21st century? The unifying experience in all the resource-rich states covered in the book is the social and economic disadvantage experienced by indigenous peoples and local communities, paradoxically surrounded by wealth-producing projects. Another critical commonality is the role of law. Where the imposition of statutory regulation is likely to result in conflict with local people, some large modern corporations have shown a preference for alternatives to repressive measures and expensive litigation. Ensuring that local people benefit economically is now a core goal for those companies that seek a social licence to operate to secure these resources. There is almost universal agreement that the best use of the financial and other benefits that flow to indigenous and local people from these projects is investment in the economic participation, education and health of present generations and accumulation of wealth for future generations. There is much hanging on the success of these strategies: it is often asserted that they will result in dramatic improvements in the status of indigenous and local communities. What happens in practice is fascinating, as the contributors to this book explain in case studies and analysis of legal and economic problems and solutions.

Marcia Langton is in the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne and holds the Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies.

Judy Longbottom is a Research Fellow and Project Manager in the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne.

As the editors of this book, we must acknowledge not only the contributors for their patience during the several years involved in publishing this volume, but also the research staff and others who worked assiduously and generously to ensure the accuracy of material and citations in the chapters, maps and graphs. Many people have worked on this volume and at the workshops and symposia at which versions of some of the chapters were presented.

Also, the sponsors of much of the research that informs some of these chapters must be thanked. This research was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC). The Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements with Indigenous Peoples in Settler States: their role and relevance for Indigenous and other Australians research project began with a grant from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in 2001. Then, in March 2002, an ARC Linkage Project grant was awarded by the Australian Research Council. In 2005, the research team grew and a second ARC Linkage Project was awarded, Implementation of Agreements and Treaties with Indigenous and Local Peoples from Post-colonial States , LP0561857. Industry Partners for both of those projects included the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination and Rio Tinto Ltd. In 2010, a third ARC Linkage Project commenced entitled Poverty in the Midst of Plenty: Economic Empowerment, Wealth Creation and Institutional Reform for Sustainable Indigenous and Local Communities , LP0990125. The industry partners for the new project are the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, Rio Tinto Ltd, Woodside Energy Ltd, Santos Ltd and Marnda Mia Central Negotiating Committee Pty Ltd. The project involves a number of research studies into the institutional, legal and policy reforms required to reduce indigenous peoples poverty and to analyse the impacts of large-scale resources projects, and government policy and services, on local communities. The aim is to identify solutions for realizing sustainable social and economic development for indigenous people based on social, policy, fiscal, procedural and legal models.

Two symposia were held at which some chapters were first presented as papers: first, the Mining, Petroleum, Oil and Gas Symposium: Indigenous Participation in the Resource and Extraction Industries, convened in Broome in 2007; and second, the symposium, Indigenous Peoples, Economic Development and Tax Policy convened at the University of Melbourne in February 2008. Several workshops were also held and these were aimed at addressing issues related to trusts and tax policy. The participants at these symposia and workshops are also acknowledged; they contributed to the critical discussions that shaped the thinking and research presented here.