Effective governance and Indigenous-led decision making are essential to ensuring Indigenous Data Sovereignty becomes a reality, according to University of Technology Sydney Professor Kirsten Thorpe.

According to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), Indigenous Data Sovereignty is the right of First Nations peoples to control how data about their communities, cultures, lands and resources is collected, accessed, owned and used.

Grounded in the principle of self-determination, it aims to ensure Indigenous communities determine how information is governed and applied in ways that reflect their priorities, values and aspirations.

Delivering the UTS Centre for Indigenous People and Work's NAIDOC Oration, Professor Thorpe said while Indigenous Data Sovereignty was still an emerging concept in academia and government, the principles underpinning it had long been advocated by First Nations people.

"It really got off the ground with the formation of the Maiam nayri Wingara collective and the National Summit they held in Canberra in 2018," she said.

"From there a set of principles were developed that asserted the rights of Indigenous peoples to control over the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination and reuse of Indigenous data."

Data as a tool of colonisation

Professor Thorpe argued the push for Indigenous Data Sovereignty emerged in response to the historical use of data as an instrument of colonial control.

"Anyone familiar with material written by government and particularly by State legislated Protection and Welfare Board knows that those records were used as weapons," she said.

"They were used to surveil. and they were used to marginalise communities."

The challenge now, she said, is to ensure Indigenous peoples not only have authority over data about their communities, but also the structures needed to exercise that authority.

Governance isn't just about how First Peoples do the work, she said, but also about who decides.

"It's the decision making. And it's not only the governance of Indigenous data, but also data for governance. So how do communities actually have data so that they control their futures?"

Stewardship with care

The Worimi professor said academics, archivists and other knowledge professionals had a responsibility to ensure Indigenous data and knowledge were stewarded with care and respect.

She reflected on the barriers Aboriginal people had historically faced when trying to access archival records, describing processes that could be both alienating and traumatic.

"You needed to travel to Sydney, walk into the alien environment of a reading room, where you would have to complete permissions and forms that were baffling to many Aboriginal people," she said. "I learned early on that archives have the power to support people or really damage them."

While acknowledging progress had been gradual, Professor Thorpe said institutions were increasingly recognising that the knowledge they held could either reinforce disadvantage or empower communities. If Indigenous people don't shape it, she argued it has the "potential to marginalise and oppress".

"That's why we need care and proper stewardship," she argued.

"With reciprocity, acts of proper engagement and considerations around mutual respect we can ensure that knowledge can be liberating to all, not just some."