The Practice of Stakeholder Colonialism: National Interest and Colonial Discourses in the Management of Indigenous Stakeholders

After decades of struggle, the land rights of Aboriginal people of Australia were finally recognized by the Native Title Act of 1993. Recognition of Native Title overturned the long-standing view that Australia was terra nullius—land belonging to no one—and finally recognized the rights of Aboriginal people over their illegally occupied land. While this was hailed as a major milestone in the process of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, the implementation of the Native Title Act was fraught with problems and uncertainties. As several Aboriginal communities discovered, granting of Native Title did not always mean control of the land and its resources, especially when the clarion call of “national interest” was sounded. Tourism, the creation of national parks and mining interests were all enclosed under the rubric of national interest and in almost every case, Aboriginal interests were put last. This chapter examines one such case: the debate over the construction of the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory, which was recently approved by the Australian government despite protests by the Mirrar community, the traditional owners of the land, and by various national and international environmental groups including UNESCO.