In 2020, a new Closing the Gap Agreement and an associated Joint Communications Strategy committed the Australian Government and state and territory governments to working with First Nations media to advance Closing the Gap aims, after lobbying by First Nations Media Australia. The new attention to First Nations media occurs after two decades of government disregard. We observe how First Nations media organisations have consistently advocated for a form of self-determination through First Nations-controlled communications, laying the groundwork for this shift. In doing so, they strategically adopt a political discourse to critique and promote reform of policy frameworks in their interests, highlighting tensions around the conceptualisation and practice of self-determination. We consider what may be required for a revised (re)adoption of self-determination as a policy to shift state-led governance, and to overcome the significant failures and limitations of policy processes.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (1999) Digital Dreaming: A National Review of Indigenous Media and Communications. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
2.
AltmanJ (2019) Of pizza ovens in Arnhem land: The state quest to restructure Aboriginal labour in remotest Australia. In: SteadVAltmanJ (eds) Labour Lines and Colonial Power: Indigenous and Pacific Islander Labour Mobility in Australia. Canberra: ANU Press, pp. 181–198.
3.
AltmanJ (2020) Self-determination’s land rights. In: RademakerLRowseT (eds) Indigenous Self-Determination in Australia: Histories and Historiography. Canberra: Canberra: ANU Press, pp. 219–237.
4.
Australian Government (2020) National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Canberra: Australian Government.
5.
Australian Government (2021) National Agreement on Closing the Gap Ongoing Joint Communications Strategy (Closing the Gap in Partnership). Canberra: Australian Government.
6.
BackhausBFoxwell-NortonK (2023) At Fitzroy crossing and around Australia, community radio empowers local responses to climate impacts. The Conversation, 17 January.
7.
BattyP (2005) Private politics, public strategies: white advisers and their Aboriginal subjects. Oceania75(3): 209–221.
8.
BondCJSinghD (2020) More than a refresh required for closing the gap of Indigenous health inequality. Medical Journal of Australia212(5): 208–210.
9.
BurrowsE (2018) Indigenous media producers’ perspectives on objectivity, balancing community responsibilities and journalistic obligations. Media, Culture & Society40(8): 1117–1134.
10.
CarlsonBDreherT (2018) Introduction: Indigenous innovation in social media. Media International Australia169(1): 16–20.
11.
CarlsonBFrazerR (2021) Indigenous Digital Life: The Practice and Politics of Being Indigenous on Social Media. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
12.
Commonwealth of Australia (2023) Commonwealth Closing the Gap Implementation Plan. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
13.
CowlishawG (1998) Erasing culture and race: practising ‘self-determination’. Oceania68(3): 145–169.
14.
CunneenC (2018) Indigenous people, resistance and racialised criminality. In: BhatiaMPoyntingSTufailW (eds) Media, Crime and Racism. Switzerland: Springer, pp. 277–299.
15.
DillonM (2021) The New Policy Architecture for Closing the Gap: Innovation and Regression. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.
16.
DreherT (2010) Speaking up or being heard? Community media interventions and the politics of listening. Media, Culture & Society32(1): 85–103.
17.
DreherTde SouzaP (2021) Listening in: Community Media and the Politics of Listening. Sydney: Media Futures Hub, University of New South Wales.
18.
DreherTWallerL (2022) Enduring silence: racialized news values, white supremacy and a national apology for child sexual abuse. Ethnic and Racial Studies45(9): 1671–1692.
19.
DrieseTMarkhamFLovellM, et al. (2021) First Nations Regional and National Representation: Aligning Local Decision Making in NSW with Closing the Gap and the Proposed Indigenous Voice. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.
20.
FeatherstoneD (2015) Connected, creative and cultural communities: Developing an integrated approach to policy and evaluation for remote Australian Indigenous media and communications. PhD Thesis, Murdoch University.
21.
FfordeCBamblettLLovettR, et al. (2013) Discourse, deficit and identity: Aboriginality, the race paradigm and the language of representation in contemporary Australia. Media International Australia149(1): 162–173.
22.
First Nations Media Australia (2022) Pre-Budget Submission 2022–2023. Alice Springs: First Nations Media Australia.
23.
First Nations Media Australia (2019a) Communications—A Key Element of Closing the Gap. Alice Springs: First Nations Media Australia.
24.
First Nations Media Australia (2019b) First Nations Media Australia Annual Report 2018–2019. Alice Springs: First Nations Media Australia.
25.
‘Flood disaster’ (2022) The Point, Season 2022, Episode 3, National Indigenous Television (NITV), Tuesday 1 March.
26.
FogartyWBullochHMcDonnellS, et al. (2018) Deficit discourse and Indigenous health: how narrative framings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are reproduced in policy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health15(7): 1316.
27.
FordeSAndersonH (2015) ‘Is it justice, or just us?’ Sourcing practices in radical and local media coverage of an Aboriginal death in police custody. Communication, Politics & Culture48(1): 1–17.
28.
HinksonM (2002) New media projects at Yuendumu: inter-cultural engagement and self-determination in an era of accelerated globalization. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies16(2): 201–220.
29.
HogarthM (2017) Speaking back to the deficit discourses: a theoretical and methodological approach. The Australian Educational Researcher44(1): 21–34.
30.
Hugh Watson Consulting (2021) Renewing a Vital Indigenous Voice and Community Asset—The Indigenous Broadcasting and Media Sector. Canberra: National Indigenous Australians Agency.
31.
KowalE (2008) The politics of the gap: Indigenous Australians, liberal multiculturalism, and the end of the self-determination era. American Anthropologist110(3): 338–348.
32.
LatimoreJNolanDSimonsM, et al. (2017) Reassembling the Indigenous Public Sphere. Australasian Journal of Information Systems21: 1–15.
33.
Lowitja Institute & First Nations Media Australia. (2022) Closing the Gap and First Nations Peoples’ Representation in the Media. Canberra: Lowitja Institute.
34.
MaynardJ (2013) Tracking back: Parallels between the 1920s Aboriginal political movements and the 1972 Tent Embassy. In: The Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Sovereignty, Black Power, Land Rights and the State. London: Routledge, pp. 84–97.
35.
McCallumKRyanTCafferyJ (2022) Deficit metrics in Australian Indigenous education: through a media studies lens. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education43(2): 266–281. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1828285.
36.
McCallumKWallerL (2020) Un-braiding deficit discourse in Indigenous education news 2008–2018: performance, attendance and mobility. Critical Discourse Studies19(1): 73–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2020.1817115.
37.
McCallumKWallerL (2017b) The Dynamics of News and Indigenous Policy in Australia. Chicago: Intellect.
38.
McCallumKWallerL (2017a) Indigenous media studies in Australia: Traditions, theories and contemporary practices. In: Minorities and Media. Singapore: Springer, pp. 105–124.
39.
MeadowsM (2012) When the stars align: Indigenous media policy formation 1988–2008. In: McCallumKMeadowsMWallerL, et al. (eds) The Media and Indigenous Policy: How News Media Reporting and Mediatized Practice Impact on Indigenous Policy. Canberra: University of Canberra, pp. 22–29.
40.
MeadowsM (2016) Dangerous dancing: a commentary on Australian Indigenous communication futures. Media and Communication4(2): 33–37.
41.
MeadowsMMolnarH (2002) Bridging the gaps: towards a history of Indigenous media in Australia. Media History8(1): 9–20.
42.
MeadowsMMorrisC (1998) Into the new millennium: the role of Indigenous media in Australia. Media International Australia88(1): 67–78.
43.
NakataS (2020) Who is the self in Indigenous self-determination? In: RademarkerLRowseT (eds) Indigenous Self-Determination in Australia: Histories and Historiography. Canberra: ANU Press, pp. 335–353.
44.
NolanDRadywylN (2004) Pluralising identity, mainstreaming identities: SBS as a technology of citizenship. Southern Review: Communication, Politics & Culture37(2): 40–65.
45.
NormanH (2015) “What Do We Want?”: A Political History of Aboriginal Land Rights in New South Wales. Aboriginal Studies Press.
46.
PageA (2018) Fragile positions in the new paternalism: Indigenous community organisations during the ‘Advancement’ era in Australia. In: Howard-WagnerDBarghMAltamirano-JiménezI (eds) The Neoliberal State, Recognition and Indigenous Rights. Canberra: ANU Press, pp. 185–200.
RennieEFeatherstoneD (2008) ‘The potential diversity of things we call TV’: Indigenous community television, self-determination and NITV. Media International Australia129(1): 52–66.
Social Ventures Australia Consulting (2017) More Than Radio – A Community Asset: Social Return on Investment in Indigenous Broadcasting Services. Canberra: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
52.
StevensN (2010) Review of Australian Government Investment in the Indigenous Broadcasting and Media Sector, Office for the Arts. Canberra: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
53.
StrakoschE (2015) Neoliberal Indigenous Policy: Settler Colonialism and the “Post-Welfare State”. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
54.
StuchberyCGosperBDoddA, et al. (2022) Above and Beyond Broadcasting: A Study of First Nations Media and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Alice Springs: First Nations Media Australia.
55.
ThomasA (2020) Tough love and talkfests: Discourses of Aboriginal policy in media reporting on Closing the Gap. In: ThomasAJakubowiczANormanH (eds) Does the Media Fail Aboriginal Political Aspirations?: 45 Years of News Media Reporting of Key Political Moments. Aboriginal Studies Press, pp. 177–195.
56.
ThomasA (2022) ‘We wanted to be boss’: Self-determination, Indigenous governance and the Yipirinya School. Journal of Educational Administration and History55(3): 257–273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2022.2151578.
57.
ThomasA ( 2023a) Closing the Gap and the Aboriginal Media Ecology in NSW. Sydney: Aboriginal Affairs NSW.
58.
ThomasA ( 2023b) The Aboriginal Media Ecology in NSW: Strategies for Change. Sydney: Aboriginal Affairs NSW.
59.
ThomasAJakubowiczANormanH (2020) Does the Media Fail Aboriginal Political Aspirations? 45 Years of News Media Reporting of Key Political Moments. Aboriginal Studies Press.
60.
ThomsonTJMcLaughlinJKing-SmithL, et al. (2022) Indigenous knowledges and perspectives in university journalism education: exploring experiences, challenges and opportunities. Australian Journalism Review44(1): 39–60.
61.
VincentE (2017) “Against Native Title”: Conflict and Creativity in Outback Australia. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
