Dr Richard Maning

Richard has professional legal qualifications (following his graduation with an LLB from the University of Tasmania in 1987). He was a legal practitioner for several years, in both the private sector (Tasmania and overseas) and the public sector (ACT). He retired from paid employment in 2011 (as a Senior Legal Counsel with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia).

Following his retirement, Richard pursued postgraduate academic studies at the Australian National University. He graduated with a Master’s degree in Anthropology in 2012 and a PhD in Indigenous Studies in 2022. His PhD thesis advocated the signing of tripartite treaties (premised upon the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) between the Commonwealth/States/Territories and First Nations peoples. The treaties would accord First Nations peoples with rights to internal self-determination and self-government within the constitutional and governmental framework of Australia (as a federated nation-state).

At UNSW Canberra, Richard’s PhD in History topic is an historical analysis of Australia’s role in the formation of and participation in the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO). SEATO was created under the 1954 Southeast Asia Collective Defence Treaty (signed on 8 September 1954 and entered into force on 19 February 1955). SEATO was disbanded on 30 June 1977.