Indigenous justice unfinished 25 years on from Native Title Act

In 1993, the Australian parliament passed the Native Title Act after one of the longest and most contested debates in the nation’s legislative history. One side of the house broke into spontaneous applause, while the other declared it a day of shame.

Michael Lavarch was the federal attorney general at the time. In this year’s Mabo Oration, he talks about the years of missed opportunities that followed, and the need to make an enduring settlement.