‘What do we want?’ is the first study of the most far-reaching and innovative Aboriginal land rights laws in the country. Heidi Norman tells a story full of possibility, tensions and entanglements as Aboriginal people took up the political demand of self-determination and worked to address their community disadvantage, all the while grappling with the expectations of government.

The laws, passed in 1983 by the Wran Labor Government, provided a mechanism for recovering land and the fifteen-year funding stream, to compensate for loss of land and culture, was intended to fund the more than 120 representative Aboriginal land councils, as well as support Aboriginal-run enterprises.

Yet chronic disadvantage continues for many Aboriginal people in NSW and Aboriginal land councils are yet to fully realise the expectations of their members.

‘What do we want?’ reveals the challenges of Aboriginal adjustment to modernity as Land Councils focus their efforts on profitable enterprises to resource community social and cultural initiatives