A/HRC/15/37/Add.4 indigenous cultures and inspired by the strength, resilience and vision of indigenous communities determined to move towards a better future. B. The legal and policy framework 6. The British Crown claimed possession of the east coast of Australia in 1770 and established a colony at Sydney Cove in 1788. Eventually, the entire continent came under British control through six independent colonies. The British did not conclude any treaties with the indigenous peoples of Australia and the indigenous peoples were not acknowledged to have any inherent rights or equal rights with British citizens. 7. The Commonwealth of Australia was founded on 1 January 1901 as a constitutional monarchy, imbued with a parliamentary system of government and a federal structure under which powers are distributed between a national Government (the Commonwealth) and the six States (the former colonies). Three territories, including the Northern Territory, have self-government arrangements subject to Commonwealth authority. 8. In the new Australia, the indigenous inhabitants of the country were denied any form of constitutional recognition or protection at the federal level and, indeed, were excluded from national census data by a provision of the Constitution of 1901. Specific laws and policies, not necessarily consistent across State boundaries, were introduced by the State parliaments to manage the indigenous people. These laws segregated indigenous people into “reserve” areas, prohibited cultural practices, regulated marriages and social contact, managed labour and controlled movement away from the reserves. 9. In 1967, a national referendum amended the Constitution to remove text that discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Thus, indigenous people were included in the national census and the Commonwealth Government gained the authority to legislate on matters related to indigenous people. In 1975, the Government enacted the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act to make discrimination on the basis of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin illegal. This national law supplanted discriminatory laws and policies at the State level. 10. Until relatively recently, the Australian legal framework did not recognize rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to land on the basis of traditional occupancy alone. Beginning in 1976, State and national land rights laws were passed but, while significantly benefiting some indigenous populations, these had limited application. In 1992, the High Court of Australia, in the landmark case of Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2) (“Mabo”),3 determined that Australian common law could recognize indigenous peoples’ customary title to land, thereby causing a re-examination of Australian laws and policies in this regard. The issue of indigenous rights to land and resources is discussed further in part IV. 11. An important recent milestone in the evolution of Australia’s policies towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples was the motion of apology to Australia’s indigenous peoples (the National Apology), introduced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and unanimously passed by the House of Representatives on 13 February 2008, in which the Australian Federal Parliament apologized for “the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss” on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The Parliament noted that “the time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future”. 3 GE.10-13887 Judgement of the High Court of Australia, Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2), 1992, 175 CLR 1. 5