Anthony Albanese's long-awaited meeting with US President Donald Trump is being touted as a success in terms of commitments made between the two countries on the AUKUS submarine deal and access to Australia's critical minerals.

But what will these commitments mean for Aboriginal people who continue to face significant disadvantage and denial of human rights?

The PM's endorsement of AUKUS was made with one day's consideration and there are serious concerns about whether the US can even deliver on its promise, as they struggle to meet their own defence needs. Many would wonder how such investment could even be made at a time of unprecedented cost of living crisis, which has placed housing affordability out of reach for so many Aboriginal people, especially women, living under the poverty line and far from wage equality.

Every day more people are unable to put a roof over their family's heads, experience hunger, and can't provide for children's basic needs. Hospitals and health systems are failing with lifesaving medical treatments becoming out of reach. Higher education, once free, comes at a great cost and universities now operate as corporate ventures with profit driving operations.

I've seen these changes in my own lifetime, as a child born in the late 1960s, who benefitted from free university education and relatively accessibly public housing. We never slept in cars, or parks, experienced the cold and the dangers of the street, because our families had public housing and we could still look after each other. Working in human rights, the UN principle of 'Leaving no one behind' shaped my life's work but is neglected in Australian mainstream politics geared towards the interests of the wealthy.

Unsurprisingly media are promoting Australia's meeting with Trump as a great success, with the two countries agreeing to jointly fund critical minerals projects, at least six of which are in Australia, signing an $8.5 billion rare earth deal.

The focus on critical minerals was intense during the Voice referendum year and occupied much of the government's attention. And barely weeks after the defeated referendum, the Attorney General got NT land councils in a room and said they would be mining their lands for critical minerals, and told them to get on board.

The AG said they would be giving Arafura Rare Earths $840,0000 million dollars of grants to mine critical minerals. In January this year the federal government made a direct $200 million investment in this project through the National Reconstruction Fund and the Prime Minister announced at the same time as the White House meeting a further direct investment of $100 million (being a total investment of $1.14 billion dollars) sending the share price of the company soaring.

According to the 2025 bilateral framework on critical minerals reached with the White House, Australia and the US are "taking measures to accelerate, streamline, or deregulate permitting timelines and processes, including to obtain permits for critical minerals and rare earths mining, separation and processing within their respective domestic regulatory systems, consistent with applicable laws".

This language of de-regulation and expedited approvals raises the real prospect of further erosion of existing native title and heritage protections.

According to the Senate Inquiry into Aboriginal Heritage the existing legislative regimes for the protection of Aboriginal Heritage are inadequate and need to be strengthened.

We also know the future acts processes in the Native Title Act are already heavily weighted in favour of mining companies and that an Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry is looking at legislated changes in this area.

The White House agreement indicates there may be little support for even the existing legal regime - certainly not for any further legislative protection for Indigenous peoples' rights.

It can be read as an endorsement by the federal government of the US administration's position on critical minerals already articulated by Trump, namely that Indigenous people opposed to critical mineral developments for legitimate heritage and environmental reasons are radical left activists and enemies of the state.

The importance of a just transition towards clean energy has been a priority of the UN Secretary General for the last several years with the establishment of a Panel tasked to report on this issue. Just Transition means that Aboriginal people should not, must not, be left further behind in this shift and economy.

In a report on critical minerals tabled at the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues we called on member states to ensure legislation to guarantee the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples is respected as a condition for undertaking any mining project that affects their lands and territories.

The Australian government has not heeded our advice, and the commitments it made with Trump will not ensure that Aboriginal people, whose land will be mined, have their right to Free Prior and Informed Consent upheld and respected. Clearly, in the context of critical minerals and the US agreement, there may be some benefits for a few, but not for most of the Aboriginal community, who will be left behind.

Dr Hannah McGlade is a Kurin Minang human rights expert, law academic and member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.