InBrief

The Law Council of Australia and the Environment and Planning Law Association of New South Wales will co-host the Mahla Pearlman Oration on 14 March 2019 at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney.

The 2019 Oration will be delivered by Professor Megan Davis, Pro-Vice Chancellor Indigenous at the University of New South Wales, headed "We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement making": Understanding the Uluru Statement From the Heart and a settlement process.

On May 26, 2017 the Uluru Statement from the Heart was issued to the Australian people at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention at Mutitjulu. The reforms contained therein were fashioned from a deliberative constitutional dialogue process conducted by the Referendum Council with a sample of First Nations in 12 regions across Australia. The Mahla Pearlman Oration will expound upon the concept of a Makarrata Commission from the perspective of the dialogues. The Makarrata Commission is intended to promote and fast track the settlement of Aboriginal land rights claims in all jurisdictions both native title and statutory land rights. The oration will provide some insight into the concerns raised during the dialogue process about land rights, environmental protection and cultural heritage and explains the sequencing of the reforms whereby a voice precedes a process of agreement making.

The Oration will also include the presentation of the Mahla Pearlman Australian Young Environmental Lawyer of the year award.