UQ Summer/Winter Research Program

Project title: 

Explain the rise and fall of ATSIC 1989-2004 (the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission)

Project duration:

4 weeks

Description:

ATSIC was established under the Hawke federal Labor Government and was dissolved under the Howard LNP government.

ATSIC was a Commonwealth statutory body. It was allocated certain consultative and executive powers relating to specific Commonwealth programs. It had a specific governance structure and consultative obligations.

Under the leadership of Lowitja O’Donoghue it was regarded as demonstrating its potential as a representative body for Indigenous interests (though not for ‘mainstream’ services for which it had no mandate). But in the second half of its life, under different leadership, and under a different federal government, its reputation and effectiveness declined.

During the recent ‘VOICE’ referendum campaign, some commentators suggested that a legislated representative body such as ATSIC should have been restored as a more immediate and positive measure. 

However, not much was known about ATSIC in the wider community. Moreover, not much was known about any necessary changes for ensuring that a new version would be more effective and legitimate in the eyes of stakeholders and governments.

Hence, the research puzzle is to explain the historical factors that strengthened and/or undermined the work of ATSIC, e.g. in terms of leadership; representation/engagement; effective program design of specific programs; and in implementation of service delivery.

Given that a comprehensive analysis cannot be completed in one month, it is suggested that students could select one or more specific sources of information, such as: debates in the federal parliament (Hansard), governmental documents, commentaries and analysis by scholars and practitioners, stakeholder viewpoints, media thematic analysis, etc.

Expected outcomes and deliverables:

Winter scholars will gain skills in literature review, document analysis, exploration of parliamentary debates, and the application of evaluation criteria.

Scholars will be expected to write a report of their findings (3000+) and an annotated bibliography of relevant primary and secondary sources.

Suitable for:

Applicants should have a background and interest in political science, public policy, political history, and/or Indigenous issues.

Primary Supervisor:

Professor Brian Head

Further info:

The supervisor is happy to be contacted by students prior to submitting an application:  brian.head@uq.edu.au