D'Souza, Carl; Wilson, Liz --- "Recent Happenings" [2003] IndigLawB 22; (2003) 5(23) Indigenous Law Bulletin 24

Recent Happenings

by Carl D’Souza and Liz Wilson

1 March

A 24 year old Aboriginal man hanged himself in Yatala Labour Prison , in Adelaide, in 2000. His mother Mrs Varcoe said, at a South Australian Coronial inquest into her son’s death, that ‘Aboriginal inmates raping fellow inmates is a hidden cause behind Aboriginal deaths in custody’. She stated that her son’s rape by two Aboriginal inmates was the reason why he hanged himself and that Aboriginal people have been silent about rape in jail for too long.

5 March

Melbourne's first Koori court opened in Broadmeadows yesterday to address the over-representation of Indigenous Victorians being jailed. Aboriginal offenders are 11 times more likely to be jailed than non-indigenous offenders in Victoria. The new court is designed to be more informal, flexible and culturally sensitive while offering the same sentencing alternatives as the Magistrates Court. In the court, Magistrates will sit beside an Aboriginal elder or ‘respected person’. The magistrate will be the decision-maker but will take advice from elders on cultural matters and from Aboriginal justice workers on case management issues. There will be no bench, no dock, no separate bar table for lawyers and no use of technical legal language. The accused will sit across a table from the magistrate flanked by a defence lawyer and a family member. The court aims to encourage defendants to appear in court, deter them from re-offending and reduce the number of court orders breached.

13 March

Indigenous juveniles make up 89 percent of the daily average detainee population, according to the Northern Territory Quarterly Crime & Justice Statistics for December 2002. Furthermore the daily average juvenile detainee population has almost doubled since the same time last year.

18 March

Noel Pearson has criticised the High Court in a speech to Newcastle University Law School. He said the High Court has misinterpreted the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), and is ‘destroying the opportunity for native title to finally settle the outstanding question of Indigenous land justice in Australia’. Pearson argues the High Court has focused on a purely statutory interpretation of native title and ignored the common law. He said that the High Court’s interpretation makes Indigenous people prove ‘that they meet white Australia’s cultural and legal prejudices about what constitutes “real” aborigines’.

18 March

The Mayor of Mt Isa has advocated move-on powers for the central business district. The powers will allow police to take pre-emptive action against people who are drunk or being a public nuisance. Indigenous community spokesman Murandoo Yanner said that the redneck elements of Mt Isa will apply the laws to Aboriginal people. There are concerns in the region that the powers will increase the number of Aborigines in prison. Murandoo said that the powers are only a band-aid solution that do not address the underlying problems of homelessness and unemployment.

19 March

The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (‘NACCHO’) has called for more funding to tackle the problem of children petrol sniffing in desert communities on the Western Australian and Northern Territory border. NACCHO has proposed community run programs that teach youth about their culture, about hunting and gathering, and how to enjoy life as a child.

20 March

The Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister has ordered an inquiry into five organisations in Queensland headed by the deputy chairman of ATSIC, Ray Robinson. Mr Ruddock said a ‘full forensic audit’ would be conducted by the independent Office of Evaluation and Audit. It is anticipated that the investigations will be completed within a month.

21 March

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has released its Social Justice Report for 2002. The report shows that Indigenous women are currently being incarcerated at a higher rate than any other group in Australia, including Indigenous men. The number of Indigenous women incarcerated increased by 256 percent from 1991 to 2001. In June 2002, Indigenous women were incarcerated at 19.6 times the non-Indigenous rate. This is occurring ‘in the context of intolerably high levels of family violence, over-policing for selected offences, ill-health, unemployment and poverty’. A greater proportion of Indigenous women are being jailed for minor offences, suggesting a failure to imprison only as a last resort. Incarceration of Indigenous women, many of whom are mothers, exposes Indigenous children to the risk of neglect, abuse, hunger and homelessness.

22 March

Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley has said that the nation’s tolerance and acceptance of the worsening gap between Indigenous and other Australian’s was racism. In her first official speech she said that the appalling health and living conditions endured by Indigenous Australians was a denial of their human rights.

25 March

Linda Burney has become the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the New South Wales Parliament. She was elected to the safe Labor seat of Canterbury in Sydney’s south-west in the recent NSW election. Linda stated that ‘Indigenous people should be considered for positions in the mainstream as well as Indigenous affairs’. She said her focus will be on a broad range of issues in her electorate and not just Indigenous issues. However, she will not abandon her involvement in the reconciliation movement.

28 March

The Inspector of Custodial Services in Western Australia says Acacia Prison suffers from a lack of staff, drug use, complaints about the quality and quantity of food, and discontent and depression among Aboriginal prisoners. The inspector concluded that the prison’s performance is unsatisfactory.