The Uniting Church has affirmed that the First Peoples of Australia, the Aboriginal and Islander Peoples, are sovereign peoples in Australia.
On 13 July, 2018, the 15th Assembly meeting in Melbourne adopted a statement affirming sovereignty of First Peoples, as noted in the minutes below:
18.09 Recognition of First Peoples as Sovereign
In the light of:
(a) the Preamble to the Constitution of the Uniting Church which defines sovereignty to be the way in which First Peoples understand themselves to be the traditional owners and custodians; and
(b) the Statement from the Heart’s acknowledgment that sovereignty is a spiritual notion, reflecting the ancestral tie between the land and First Peoples;
to affirm that the First Peoples of Australia, the Aboriginal and Islander Peoples, are sovereign peoples in this land.