In Australia the racial contract began with invasion and colonisation; indeed, it may be thought of as a racial colonial contract. Aboriginal peoples were dispossessed from their lands, disenfranchised, dominated and disqualified from the very category of personhood through legislation and policies that ensured their social, political and economic exclusion. Within the earlier iterations of the racial contract, Indigenous peoples were treated as sub-persons and explicitly excluded from equal status.

Critically reflect on this statement by Dr Debbie Bargallie, Indigenous author of Unmasking The Racial Contract: Indigenous Voices on Racism in the Australian Public Service. Support your reflection by reference to the following materials that you have studied in this Subject and the impact that these materials have had on your perspective of the role that race plays in contract law: