Editors --- "Update: Special Wik Issue; Indigenous Women's Program; Australian Reconciliation Convention 1997; Amnesty International" [1997] IndigLawB 28; (1997) 4(1) Indigenous Law Bulletin 2

• Update
• Special Wik Issue
• Indigenous Women's Program
• Australian Reconciliation Convention 1997
• Amnesty International

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Update

Special Wik Issue

This is the first, fantastic issue of the Indigenous Law Bulletin. We have now taken the long-forecast step of changing our name from the Aboriginal Law Bulletin (so make sure, when you're writing your wills, that you get the correct name).

This is a special issue of the Indigenous Law Bulletin, focussing on the Wik decision of the High Court, handed down on 23 December 1996. We have a wonderful array of articles to help you to come to grips with the background to, and the implications of, the Wik judgment.

Two articles, by Neva Collings and by David Martin, provide valuable and fascinating accounts of the background to the Wik case. Professor Richard Bartlett contributes his legal analysis of the term 'extinguishment' which is so readily, but he argues, wrongfully, being used since the Wik judgment, and highlights particular legal issues which need clarification. Professor Garth Nettheim discusses possible changes to the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) in the wake of the Wik decision.

The ILB does not usually publish material that has been published anywhere else, but we have made an exception for this issue to include some material which is very valuable for the Wik debate. One article is the response to the Wik decision by the Kamali Council and its Chair, Paddy Neowarra, for the Ngarinyin people of the Kimberley district in Western Australia. It is a powerfully evocative statement, well worth reading and re-reading. Lois O'Do noghue's speech to the National Press Club is a great narrative of events over the last 7 years. Finally, 'The Preamble and Principles of Indigenous Statement to the Prime Minister' is a vital record of the position of the Indigenous negotiating parties as announced on 6 February 1997-a position which should be communicated throughout the country.

Happy reading.

Indigenous Women's Program

The Women's Legal Resources Centre (WLRC) has recently established an Indigenous Women's Program (IWP) with the aim of providing access to justice, through the provision of legal advice, information and referral, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls living in New South Wales and the ACT. The IWP's staff includes two Aboriginal workers, who can be contacted by phoning 1800 639 784 between 9.30am-12.30pm and between 1.30pm-4.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of every week. In addition to staffing this contact line, the IWP aims to provide community legal education programs and training, conduct research and lobbying for law reform, and to promote more accurate and positive representations of Australian and Torres Strait Islander women in the media. Recent work of the WLRC has included projects designed to address domestic violence and sexual assault issues in relation to Aboriginal women.

Australian Reconciliation Convention 1997

Meetings leading up to the Australian Reconciliation Convention have been scheduled at the following locations during April:

Mount Isa: Thursday 10 April
Cairns: Tuesday 15 April
Rockhampton: Tuesday 15 April
Townsville: Thursday 17 April

For further information and inquiries, contact the following offices of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation:

Queensland: phone [phone] or email [e-mail]
NSW: phone [phone] or email [e-mail]
ACT: phone [phone]
NT: phone [phone]
SA: phone [phone] or email [e-mail]
WA: phone [phone] or email [e-mail]
Tasmania: phone [phone] or email [e-mail]
Victoria: phone [phone] or email [e-mail]

Amnesty International

Amnesty International's Focus publication for January 1997 (Vol. 27 No. 1) is entitled 'Australia: a champion of human rights?'. It contains a rundown of human rights abuses in Australia, and mainly deals with the situation of Indigenous Australians. Copies are available through your State Amnesty International office (residents of the Northern Territory please call Adelaide Amnesty).