Dominic O'Sullivan

Dominic O’Sullivan is Associate Professor of Political Science and Senior Research Fellow at Charles Sturt University and Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Maori Health Research at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. He has more than 50 publications in comparative indigenous politics and public policy including 5 books, most recently Indigeneity: a politics of potential – Australia, Fiji and New Zealand (Bristol: Policy Press, 2017).

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Closing the Gap in Indigenous Australian Disadvantage Policy: A Human Rights Response

Closing the Gap in Indigenous Australian Disadvantage Policy: A Human Rights Response

In 2008 the Council of Australian Governments decided to ‘close the gap in indigenous disadvantage’. It identified 6 targets in the fields of health, education and employment where policy could ‘close’ gaps between Indigenous and ...
Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in New Zealand

Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in New Zealand

In 2007, the United Nations adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It affirmed that the right to self-determination is a universal right. It belongs to indigenous peoples, as groups and as individuals, as much as ...
The Human Right to Belong: Indigenous rights and sovereignty in Australia

The Human Right to Belong: Indigenous rights and sovereignty in Australia

In 2019, the Minister of Immigration tried to deport two Aboriginal men from Australia. One was born in Papua New Guinea, and the other in New Zealand. Although long resident in Australia, neither had applied for citizenship. This, ...
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: An Eightieth Anniversary Reflection

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: An Eightieth Anniversary Reflection

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) fills important gaps in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by recognising that human rights belong to peoples as well as to individuals. It emphasises collective ...
Waitangi Day: Rights, Sovereignty and the Politics of a National Day

Waitangi Day: Rights, Sovereignty and the Politics of a National Day

New Zealand celebrated its national day this week. Unlike Canada Day which marks the anniversary of the Canadian federation, or Australia Day which marks the anniversary of the establishment of a British penal colony, Waitangi Day (6 ...
Australia Denies Political Participation as an Indigenous Human Right

Australia Denies Political Participation as an Indigenous Human Right

Political participation is a human right affirmed and contextualised for indigenous peoples under the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Australia was one of four post-settler colonial states to vote ...
Australia’s Bid for the UN Human Rights Council and the Domestic Politics of Race

Australia’s Bid for the UN Human Rights Council and the Domestic Politics of Race

Australia has identified five priorities to support its candidacy for a seat on the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. They are ‘gender equality, good governance, freedom of expression, the rights of indigenous peoples and strong ...