The schism: Aboriginal self-determination at the crossroads | Mokak Oration 2026

Professor Dr Megan Davis AC delivered this year's Mokak Oration titled ‘The schism: Aboriginal self-determination at the crossroads’. The Oration was held in Canberra on Wednesday 14 October 2026. About Professor Dr Megan Davis AC Professor Davis is Pro Vice-Chancellor Society, Scientia Professor and Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law at UNSW Sydney. She is also Bok Visiting International Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. A leading constitutional lawyer and public law expert, she has worked on constitutional recognition of First Nations peoples for two decades and designed the Referendum Council process that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Professor Davis is a fellow of Australia’s leading law, social sciences and humanities academies, an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court, a Sydney Peace Prize Laureate, and in 2023 was named in TIME Magazine’s TIME NEXT100 list of emerging global leaders. She is internationally recognised for her work on human rights and Indigenous peoples’ rights, including serving as an expert member and chair with both the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. https://www.pc.gov.au/media-speeches/...