Kirsten Thorpe links data control to decision-making
Strong governance and clear decision-making are central to Indigenous Data Sovereignty, Professor Kirsten Thorpe told a NAIDOC oration at the University of Technology Sydney on 10th July 2026.
The UTS Centre for Indigenous People and Work hosted the oration with UTS Business School and the Jumbunna Institute on 10th July 2026.
According to Thorpe, Indigenous Data Sovereignty is still an emerging term in academia and government in 2026.
Canberra summit in 2018
Thorpe traced the modern movement to the Maiam nayri Wingara collective and its National Summit in Canberra in 2018.
She said the movement is only about a decade old, although Indigenous communities argued for control of data and information long before that term existed.
After the 2018 summit, a set of principles asserted Indigenous peoples’ rights over the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination and reuse of Indigenous data.
Thorpe described the push for Indigenous Data Sovereignty as a response to the way data was used in the colonial project.
“Anyone familiar with material written by government and particularly by State legislated Protection and Welfare Board knows that those records were used as weapons. They were used to surveil, and they were used to marginalise communities,” Thorpe said.
Her 10th July 2026 address focused on governance, including who decides, how decisions are made and how communities can use data to control their futures.
Thorpe also urged academics, archivists and other knowledge professionals to steward Indigenous data and knowledges with care and respect.
She recalled that many Aboriginal people once had to travel to Sydney to consult records, then navigate reading rooms, permissions and forms that could be baffling and traumatising.
At UTS, Thorpe said she learned early that archives can support people or damage them, which is why stewardship standards matter alongside access.
Although progress is slow in 2026, Thorpe said institutions are becoming more aware that the knowledge they hold can marginalise as well as empower.
“Data needs to be shaped by Indigenous people. Without that, it has the potential to marginalise and oppress,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe is a professor with the Indigenous Archives and Data Stewardship Hub and the Jumbunna Institute at UTS.
