ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the changes in Australian political environment and religious scene that had significant impact on the later development of the politics of reconciliation and on churches' role in that process. It examines the intervention of the Australian Christian churches into these debates since the 1970s, a period of wide-ranging change within society. The chapter argues that the decision of the churches to become advocates and practitioners of Australian 'reconciliation' is indicative of wider changes in the country's religious scene, and of changes in public norms regulating the participation of religious actors in Australian public life. The political and legal framework for reconciliation process was set out in the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991. The act established a Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation consisting of indigenous and non-indigenous appointees, chaired throughout the life of council by an Aboriginal person, and charged with the task of improving community relations and developing set of 'documents', a deliberately vague word, of reconciliation.
