National Aboriginal Conference
former Australian governmental body
The National Aboriginal Conference (NAC) was a national organisation established by the Australian Government to represent Indigenous Australians, that is Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The NAC was originally established as the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee (NACC) in 1973 by the Whitlam government with a principal function to advise the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the Minister on issues of concern to Indigenous peoples. Its members were elected by Indigenous people. The reorganisation of the Committee into the National Aboriginal Conference did little to fundamentally alter the characteristics of the original Committee: The Conference's members too were selected by Indigenous peoples, and it remained in an advisory role.
Although Indigenous leaders desired the Conference (and previously the Committee) to take on a greater and more direct role in the creation of policy, the organisation maintained an advisory role over the course of its existence. However, these leaders found political leverage in the Conference. They utilised this leverage, and through actions on the international stage and in domestic media campaigns, the Conference was able to exert pressure on the Governments of the day to adopt a more involved approach to Aboriginal affairs.
The Conference is known for its recommendation of a form of treaty between Aboriginal peoples and the Australian Government, using the Yolngu word makarrata to describe this.
Relations between the Conference and the Commonwealth Government progressively deteriorated over the course of its life, and the Conference was eventually abolished by the Hawke government in 1985.
History
Founding and early history
The National Aboriginal Consultative Committee (NACC) was established by the Whitlam government in 1973 and this later morphed into the National Aboriginal Conference.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “National Aboriginal Conference” is former Australian governmental body. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through National, Aboriginal and Conference, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16873160. VIAF identifies the subject as 129546993. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973 and 1985.
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This entry incorporates text from “National Aboriginal Conference” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.