A new legal study is challenging a decades-old assumption about Australia’s highest court – arguing the High Court may, in fact, have the power to hear cases on Indigenous sovereignty.
Published last week in the University of New South Wales Law Journal, the research suggests a key 1970s case was misinterpreted as precedent – potentially opening the door for a landmark test case – if the Court were to hear cases on the question of sovereignty.
Currently, Australia is the only Commonwealth country that has not signed a national treaty with its Indigenous peoples
Produced By: Mary-Kate Hannagan
Featured In Story: Olivia Barr – Associate Professor, Melbourne Law School.
First aired on The Wire, Monday 27 April 2026