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Lemezina, Zrinka --- "Month in Review - November/December 2009" [2009] IndigLawB 48; (2009) 7(15) Indigenous Law Bulletin 30


Month in Review – November/December 2009

Compiled by Zrinka Lemezina

6.11 The Northern Land Council announced that it has signed-off on 40-year leases with three Top End Aboriginal communities – Milingimbi, Ngukurr and Gapuwijak – paving the way for work to proceed under the Strategic Housing and Infrastructure Program. The Land Council expects to sign-off on agreements with the two remaining communities of Yirrkala and Numbulwar by the end of the year.

16. 11 The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs today released the report of its inquiry into remote Indigenous community stores. Everybody’s Business: Remote Aboriginal Community Stores focuses particularly on food supply, quality and competition; the effectiveness of the Outback Stores model and the impact of these factors on health and economic outcomes. Committee Chairman, Bob Debus said that ‘more can and must be done to ensure these businesses are a viable support to the wellbeing of the communities they serve’.

16.11 A 12-year old Aboriginal boy attended court today to defend himself against criminal charges laid in respect of a Freddo frog he allegedly received from a friend who had shoplifted the chocolate from a Coles supermarket in regional WA. Peter Collins of the WA Aboriginal Legal Service described the charges as ‘scandalous’ while John Fogarty, a retired Family Court judge, criticised the case, saying ‘if this was a non-Indigenous child, the most he would probably get ... would be the mildest of warnings by the local sergeant’.

18.11 Addressing the National Press Club, Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan criticised decades of failure by Australian governments to address dire living conditions, disempowerment and discrimination faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. After visiting remote Indigenous communities in the NT, Ms Khan described conditions as ‘reminiscent of the third world’. Ms Khan said that, in light of Australia’s status as the third most developed country in the world, the level of Indigenous poverty is ‘not merely disheartening, it is morally outrageous’.

18.11 Former Premier of NSW, Nathan Rees, announced that 20,000 ha of land will be handed back to the Yuin people, traditional owners of the Nowra area on the south coast. After fighting for more than twenty years to have their land claims recognised by the NSW Government, this will be the single largest handback of Aboriginal land in the state’s history. No date has been set for an official handover.

18.11 The Federal Court today recognised native title over more than 10,000 kms of pastoral country in Western Australia's Gascoyne. The decision comes 11 years since the Thudgari people first made an application for native title over land between the Ashburton and Gascoyne rivers. Traditional owner Doris Parker said that while the decision was ‘just unbelievable’, it would also be 'sad, because all our elders are not here with us to see this day’.

19.11 World Bank chief, Robert Zoellick said that it is critical for Indigenous people to be included in international climate change talks as they are among the groups most affected by global warming. He spoke at a Washington roundtable aimed at establishing an Indigenous Peoples Climate Action Fund to provide direct financing to selected Indigenous communities around the world. The Fund will be used to strengthen community capacity, to influence decision-making and to engage in dialogue on climate change at the national and international level.

19.11 Dr Chris Sarra of the Stronger, Smarter Institute has been named as Queensland’s Australian of the Year for 2010 in recognition of his work in Indigenous education.

20.11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Clama launched Restoring Identity, the final report by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, calling for the establishment of a national reparations tribunal for Aboriginal children forcibly taken from their families. The report supports the model recommended in the 1997 Bringing Them Home report, which sets out a reparations package based on human rights principles. Mr Calma said that, ‘until reparations are a reality, the suffering and loss experienced by our people will continue to hinder reconciliation and positive developments as a nation.’

22.11 The Steering Committee charged with establishing the new national Indigenous representative body announced that the new organisation will be called the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples. The Federal Government has already accepted the recommendations of the Committee's report, Our Future in our Hands, and has agreed to provide initial funding for the National Congress until December 2013.

21. 11 Sydney-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre (‘PIAC’) is calling on the Federal and Territory Governments to do more to prevent a second stolen generation of Aboriginal children. PIAC says governments are presiding over a wave of Indigenous children being taken from dysfunctional families and being placed with white foster parents and in institutions. PIAC Executive Director, Robin Banks, says the governments must do more to support Indigenous families to properly care for and keep their children.

26.11 The Federal Government will proceed with its $100 million plan to improve conditions in Alice Springs' town camps after the Federal Court rejected a legal challenge by Indigenous residents. Led by Barbara Shaw, the residents argued that housing associations controlling the camps had unlawfully signed 40-year subleases with the Government, that ceding hard-won land rights was contrary to members’ interests and amounted to a breach of contract with Indigenous tenants. Justice John Mansfield dismissed Ms Shaw's challenge, finding that residents' rights were not adversely affected and that the housing associations had made ‘an appropriate commercial judgment’ and had chosen the ‘the lesser evil of granting the proposed subleases, and ultimately retaining their interest in the town camps’.

1.12 About 50 Aboriginal activists were arrested and charged with trespass after trying to stop construction at a road bypass near Hobart. Protest spokesman, Michael Mansell says the four kilometre-long stretch at Brighton was an ancient crossroads for Aboriginal Tasmanians pre-dating Egypt's Pyramids. Protesters from Mr Mansell's Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre want a stop to work on the bypass until a full audit of Indigenous heritage is completed.

7.12 WA Commissioner for Young People and Children, Michelle Scott says that alcohol restrictions have had a positive effect in Fitzroy Crossing but more work needs to be done to support and rebuild the community. After visiting the Kimberley town last week, Commissioner Scott says is calling on the WA Government to increase mental health and counselling services, and to provide specialist support for children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

10.12 The premiere of Rachel Perkins’ film Bran Nue Dae was held in Broome tonight. The film stars Jessica Mauboy, Ernie Dingo, Ningali Lawford-Wolf, Missy Higgins and Dan Sultan. It is set in 1967 and tells the story of an Aboriginal boy who is forced to leave his hometown of Broome to go to school in Perth.

10.11 The WA Government announced that it is considering privatising prisoner transport for juvenile offenders in that state. Opposition spokesman for Corrective Services, Paul Papalia said ‘in light of the tragic death of Mr Ward in the hand of contractors transporting prisoners, I would be very concerned about any expansion of privatisation of prisoner transport.’ The Opposition said a better solution would be to expand the Youth Justice Centres to include more accommodation.

10.12 The Access to Justice Report was released today, finding that legal services in rural and regional areas are inconsistent and inadequate. The report makes 31 recommendations, including greater Federal and State Government funding to expand regional legal aid services and a comprehensive review of funding programs in high needs areas.

11.12 The Indigenous Justice Advocacy Network is seeking a review of the Federal Government’s approval of the Four Mile uranium mine in SA. The case will be heard in the Federal Court.

11.12 Twelve years after lodging their claim, the Federal Court recognised non-exclusive native title rights in favour of the Girramay people in QLD. The ruling affects 16 parcels of unallocated state land and covers over 500ha of land in the Cardwell, Murray Upper and Bilyana areas.

14.12 Annie Vanderwyk - an advocate for educational and economic opportunities for Indigenous women in Australia - was profiled in Global Woman magazine. The American-based magazine contains a special feature on female leaders of the world and highlights Ms Vanderwyk's commitment to empowering Indigenous communities.

15.12 Federal Attorney-General, Robert McClelland announced Mick Gooda as the next Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. The appointment has met with criticism as Mr Gooda, formerly Chief Executive of ATSIC, is the fourth man to hold the position since it was established in 1992. In 17 years, no woman has served in the role. Mr Gooda will take over from Tom Calma in February 2010.

17.12 The Evaluation of Income Management in the Northern Territory, prepared by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, was released today. According to the findings, Indigenous children are eating more, weigh more and appear healthier they did before the introduction of compulsory income management. The study surveyed parents between seven and 20 months after income management came into effect.

17.12 The Palm Island Council will work with the QLD Government towards a 40-year land lease for public housing. Palm Island Mayor, Alf Lacey said the leases will bring ‘over $40 million investment into Palm for the next 10 years’ and that this is ‘really important to Council’ because housing on the Island is at a ‘critical state’.

18.12 In its final report into stolen wages, the Victorian Government said that money earned by Aboriginal workers on a state-run reserve was sometimes withheld as a form of punishment. Looking at archive evidence from the Lake Tyers station in Gippsland, the report confirms that stolen wages across Victoria were controlled by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines under legislation passed between 1869 and 1974. The report did not include any investigation of underpayment of work performed on Aboriginal reserves, low or non-payment of wages to Aboriginal people under private work contracts, or information held within the Victorian Aboriginal community.

18.12 The SA Government today returned the final section of the former Maralinga nuclear test site to the Maralinga Tjarutja people. The land was used used by the British Government between 1953-63 and has been returned to traditional owners in stages. The first handback occurred in 1984 with two further parcels of land returned in 1991.

21.12 The Commonwealth Health Department told the Senate inquiry into suicide that Indigenous people are three times more likely than other Australians to commit suicide, and that residents of remote areas are twice as susceptible than people living in bigger cities. The National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University warned that suicide has taken on ‘martyrdom symbolism’ in some Aboriginal communities. Ted Wilkes of the Institute’s Aboriginal research team said that ‘there is an acute and chronic need for targeted programs that address the circumstances of Indigenous Australians.’


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