Governance key to Indigenous Data Sovereignty
Centre for Indigenous People and Work (CIPW)
Centre for Indigenous People and Work (CIPW)
UTS Business School | Jumbunna Institute
10 July 2026
MEDIA RELEASE
Governance key to Indigenous Data Sovereignty
Effective decision making through robust governance structures is the key to enabling Indigenous Data Sovereignty, according to UTS Professor Kirsten Thorpe.
Delivering the UTS Centre for Indigenous People and Work’s NAIDOC oration, Prof Thorpe said Indigenous Data Sovereignty was still an emerging term in academia and government.
“The Indigenous Data Sovereignty movement is only around a decade old, but Indigenous people have been talking about rights to control data, information long before the term existed.” Prof Thorpe said.
“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.”
“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,” Prof Thorpe said.
Prof Thorpe said the Indigenous Data Sovereignty movement was a response to the way that data was used as part of the colonial project.
“Anyone familiar with material written by government and particularly by State legislated Protection and Welfare Board knows that those records were used as weapons. They were used to surveil. and they were used to marginalise communities,” Prof Thorpe said.
Prof Thorpe said that the task now was to explore how the right to Indigenous Data Sovereignty can be best realised through effective governance and decision making.
“I want us to think about what governance looks like, because governance isn’t just about how we do the work, its 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?”
Prof Thorpe said it was vital for academics, archivists and other knowledge professionals to explore questions around how responsibility for stewarding data and Indigenous knowledges is taken with care and respect.
“Too often in the past the complexities around finding sources of information were traumatising. 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. I learned early on that archives have the power to support people or really damage them.”
Prof Thorpe said that although progress is slow, institutions are becoming more aware of how the knowledge they hold can be used to marginalise as well as empower.
“Data needs to be shaped by Indigenous people. Without that, it has the potential to marginalise and oppress.”
“That’s why we need care and proper stewardship. With reciprocity, acts of proper engagement and considerations around mutual respect we can ensure that knowledge can be liberating to all, not just some.”
Prof Kirsten Thorpe is Professor of the Indigenous Archives and data Stewardship Hub and the University of Technology Sydney’s Jumbunna Institute.
Media contact: Raj Wakeling on 0420 414 724
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Media contact: Raj Wakeling on 0420 414 724