AustLit

'Over the last year, we have seen a number of major developments in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues. The context for many of them was the passing of the Native Title Act 1993 by the Federal Parliament—a process in which the point of highest euphoria was perhaps the midnight vote in the Senate on 21 December 1993. As Senator Gareth Evans pointed out in his closing speech prior to the vote's being taken, the vote concluded what had been the longest debate on any bill in the history of the Australian parliament. The previous record holder— and, as he pointed out, not entirely coincidentally— was the 1989 ATSIC bill. The extent of these two debates is an indicator of both, on the one hand, the failure of understanding that still exists in the wider Australian community in relation to indigenous issues and, on the other, the fact that, despite this failure, such issues are now central to the processes of Australian political life.' (Editorial Introduction)