Indigenous Policy Impact, 2023

Impact summary

My publications in comparative politics and policy have contributed to policy development by the New Zealand Ministry for Maori Development (Te Puni Kokiri) and policy advocacy by the Australian Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International and in a report commissioned by the Northern Territory Department of Attorney General and Justice.

Research and engagement activities leading to impact

See the outputs below.

Research outputs associated with the impact

1. O’Sullivan, D. (2011). Democracy, Power and Indigeneity. Australian Journal of Politics and
History 57(1), 86-101.

2. O'Sullivan, D. ‘Lessons from New Zealand on the ‘duty to consult’ First Nations’. The
Conversation, 30 November 2018.

3. O'Sullivan, D. 'The Voice isn’t apartheid or a veto over parliament – this misinformation is undermining democratic debate'. The Conversation, 18 May, 2023.

4. The crisis of policy failure or the moral crisis of an idea: colonial
politics in contemporary Australia and New Zealand. Political Science, DOI:
10.1080/00323187.2022.2099915

Researcher involvement

I was solely responsible for all of these publications.

Outcomes of research leading to impact

1. Mātauranga Māori in the Media. A Report to Te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho|
Broadcasting Standards Authority, Te Puni Kōkiri|Ministry of Māori Development, and Manatū
Taonga|Ministry for Culture and Heritage (2023)
https://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/o-matou-mohiotanga/crownmaori-relations/matauranga-maori-in-the-media

2.Australian Human Rights Commission (2023). Free and Equal. Position Paper. A Human Rights Act for Australia.
https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/free_equal_hra_2022_-_main_report_press_2.pdf

3. Amnesty International (2023). Sorting Fact from Fiction.
https://www.amnesty.org.au/sorting-fact-from-fiction-in-the-voice-to-parliament-referendum/

4. 3. Hollinworth, D (2023). Campaign to Combat Racism: A Report Reviewing Persistence of Racism within the Northern Territory Government and Strategies to Eliminate Racism. Report to the Northern Territory Department of the Attorney-General and Justice.
https://justice.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/1372296/20-71A-HOLLINSWORTH,-David-Campaign-to-Combat-Racism-Report-Revised-16.10.23.pdf

Beneficiaries of the impact

Ministry of Maori Development and Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Australian Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, the Manufacturing, Engineering and Logistics Workforce Development Council, Northern Territory Department of the Attorney-General and Justice.

Details of the impact achieved

A policy paper, Matauranga Maori and the Media, commissioned by the Ministry of Maori Development and Ministry for Culture and Heritage, refers to my argument that 'liberal democracies struggle with notions of collectivity, pointing to a cultural bias' (p. 16) to support other scholarly arguments of this bias in the Broadcasting Standards Authority's application of its Code 'and how this effectively positions discrimination and denigration as a subjective response'. This is among the evidence the paper used to make policy recommendations.

The Australian Human Rights Commission referenced my demonstration of Maori sharing public sovereignty in New Zealand as part of the international comparisons that informed the position paper.

Amnesty International quoted my research to support its arguments, in an advocacy paper, in favour of the Voice to Parliament.

My journal article ‘The crisis of policy failure or the moral crisis of an idea: colonial politics in contemporary Australia and New Zealand’ was cited in a commissioned report to the Northern Territory Department of the Attorney-General and Justice to explain connections among colonialism, racism and sustained policy failure.

Impact date	2023
Category of impact	Public policy Impact
Impact level	International