The definition proposed in the Constitutional Section of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs' Report on a review of the administration of the working definition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Canberra, 1981) and since used by the Federal Government as their working definition, in state legislation and by the High Court, should be the only acceptable definition of Aboriginality.
This definition is a three-part definition requiring all 3 parts to be established for Aboriginality to be recognised:
descent (the individual can prove that a parent is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent);
self-identification (the individual identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander); and
community recognition (the individual is accepted as such by the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community in which he/she ).
