Submission on the Australian Marine Spatial Planning Framework (AMSPF)

To meet FPIC requirements, Traditional Owners must be consulted early, fully informed, properly resourced, and able to give or withhold consent freely. Current AMSPF documents risk repeating patterns where Indigenous rights are sidelined in favour of environmental, economic, and governance priorities.

While supporting a coordinated marine spatial planning framework, the submission calls for substantial reframing to embed Traditional Owner decision-making, ensure rights recognition, and strengthen cultural heritage protections.

FPIC must be exercised through Traditional Owner Representative Institutions (TORIs), such as Prescribed Bodies Corporate, which have the collective authority to consent to or reject proposals. Agreement making should also respect Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) as an equal knowledge system, not integrated into Western science.