Exploring Implications for the Land and Geospatial Profession for Building a Shared Future

Serene Ho, Prashanti Mayfield, Mariana Dias Baptista, Maria Vasardani, Libby Porter, Ani Landau-Ward, Matt Duckham, Mark McMillan

Summary

In 2018, the Victorian government passed Australia’s first-ever treaty law (State Government of Victoria, 2018) but the new treaty legislation is startingly silent on any direction on spatiality. This reflects a wider silence in both Victorian and federal legislative frameworks which ignore the spatial dimension of treaty negotiations. It leads to the questions: to what places does a negotiated treaty apply, and how should/​will treaty affect the use, management, access and ownership of Country, embodying land, water, air, flora, fauna and mineral resources?

Many land and geospatial professionals will find themselves playing a role in helping to address these questions, whether as researchers, consultants, or public servants. The use of spatial data and geographic information systems (GIS) have become mainstreamed as a policy tool, but there are recognised difficulties in applying western-oriented GIS to Indigenous knowledge. Therefore, the central question addressed in this Concept Paper is: What might the spatial implications of treaty be for land and geospatial professionals?

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Citation
Ho, S., Mayfield, P., Dias Baptista, M., Vasardani, M., Porter, L., Landau-Ward, A., Duckham, M. and McMillan, M. (2020). Thinking About Treaty Spatially: Exploring Implications for the Land and Geospatial Profession for Building a Shared Future. RMIT Enabling Capability Platform Concept Paper Series 2019 (CP 1904). Melbourne: RMIT University.