Nin Tomas

'The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Can Australians learn from Maori experiences or are we following completely separate paths?"

Date:  Thursday, 29 October 2009
Time:  6 pm to 7 pm                        
Venue:  Monash University Law Chambers
RSVP: castan.centre@law.monash.edu.au or tel 9905 3327
Public Lecture – All Welcome

Recent developments in International Law and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples have had an immediate impact for Māori in NZ, particularly in terms of developing political governing structures as part of the state.  These developments have ramifications for Indigenous people in Australia. Nin Tomas will explore the impacts International law has had for New Zealand and identify some areas of commonality and difference with Australia.

Nin Tomas is tangata whenua, being a member of the Tai Tokerau confederation of iwi and a graduate of Auckland University. Her academic career is grounded in Aotearoa/New Zealand, drawing upon the rich, and largely unrecognised, intellectual contribution Māori society has to make to domestic and international law. Nin is part of the vanguard of change in NZ law teaching, consciously using and developing indigenous and Māori concepts in her ordinary teaching.  She has implemented successful initiatives aimed at improving Māori student achievement, one being the annual National Māori Issues Moot, now a highlight for students at the Māori Lawyers’ Association yearly gathering, another being the Journal of Māori Legal Writing, as a forum for academic discussion of Māori concepts and principles and their legal application, by students and lecturers.