AustLII Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback

Indigenous Law Bulletin

Indigenous Law Bulletin
You are here:  AustLII >> Databases >> Indigenous Law Bulletin >> 1999 >> [1999] IndigLawB 11

Database Search | Name Search | Recent Articles | Noteup | LawCite | Help

van Gelder, Vivian; Godfrey, James; Heraghty, Ben; Kwan, Joanna --- "Recent Happenings" [1999] IndigLawB 11; (1999) 4(17) Indigenous Law Bulletin 24


Recent Happenings

Compiled by: Joanna Kwan, Ben Heraghty, James Godfrey, Vivian van Gelder.

16 October:

The Arakwal people signed an agreement with the Byron Shire Council in the first comprehensive agreement between a local council and native title claimants in New South Wales. The Agreement sets up a framework for consultations between the Council and Arakwal people over planning development proposals in the area which are of concern to the Arakwal community.

16 October:

The High Court terminated the committal hearing of a deaf-mute Aboriginal man from the Northern Territory who was charged with murder. The court ruled that the Northern Territory Magistrate’s decision to commit him for trial was a nullity, as the accused had not been provided with an interpreter and had therefore not been able to understand the nature of the proceedings.

26 October:

A UNESCO Special Mission arrived in Kakadu National Park to investigate concerns over uranium mining in the park and to advise the Geneva-based World Heritage Committee whether Kakadu's environmental or cultural values would be threatened by the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine. (See article inside this edition of ILB).

28 October:

The Tasmanian Commissioner of Police announced a new Aboriginal Strategic Plan to reduce the number of Aborigines in police custody. Under the plan, Aboriginal people who commit street offences such as public drunkenness will be sent to community safe houses instead of jail. New police recruits will also have to undergo special psychological tests designed to screen racists out of the police force.

30 October:

Members of Maralinga Tjarutja and Yatala Aboriginal Communities on South Australia’s far west coast successfully opposed an application by the management of a local hotel to install poker machines in the hotel. Judge Kelly of the Licensing Court of South Australia dismissed an appeal by the hotel’s management against a previous rejection of a poker machine license by the State’s Gaming Machine Commissioner on the grounds that access to poker machines would exacerbate existing social problems in the local Aboriginal community.

31 October:

Employees of Aboriginal Hostels Ltd, the biggest employer of Aborigines in Australia, walked off the job in Alice Springs. The Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union instigated the industrial action in response to the company’s proposed enterprise agreement which seeks to abolish the Aboriginal cultural and bereavement leave which are a feature of the Aboriginal hostel workers’ current award conditions.

3 November:

The Queensland Supreme Court struck out a land and sea rights claim over the World Heritage-listed Fraser Island on the grounds that the claim would cause unnecessary delay and expense. The claims were lodged by the Dalungbara, Batchala and Ngulungbara tribes of the Great Sandy Region.

11 November:

The Queensland Labor Government passed an amended form of its Native Title (Queensland) State Provisions Bill (no.2) 1998. The Bill was the second stage in Queensland’s response to the Federal Government’s amendments to the Native Title Act 1998 (Cth). (See article in this edition of ILB).

24 November:

The Federal Court handed down its decision in the Miriuwung-Gajerrong Native Title claim in the Kimberleys (see article inside this edition ofILB).


AustLII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback
URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/1999/11.html