Indigenous Law Bulletin
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Compiled by Dianne Biaginni, Julian Schimmel, Celia Pitcher, Gaby Carney, Sophie Redmond.
In the WA Supreme Court, Justice Christine Wheeler held that the Bindi Bindi Aboriginal Corporation was not liable to pay rates for rubbish collection to the Ashburton Shire Council because its land was used for the charitable purposes.
A proposal to change Tasmania’s Cemeteries Act so that Aboriginal people can conduct traditional cremations without approval from the government was welcomed by Michael Mansell, legal manager of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.
The Australian Institute of Criminology released a paper on femicide by Jenny Mouzos. It shows that while Indigenous women make up only about 2% of Australia’s female population, they accounted for about 15% of female victims of homicide in Australia between 1989 and 1998.
The Effect of Arrest on Indigenous Employment Prospects, a report by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics, was released. It shows that Aboriginal people are eight times more likely to be arrested and 50 times more likely to be arrested for public-order offences than non-Indigenous people. In 1998, Aboriginal arrests went up by 30%. Once they have a record of arrest, Indigenous peoples’ chances of obtaining employment drop an average 15%: for men from 41% to 23%; for women from 29% to 16%. The report recommends greater use of youth justice conferencing and drying-out facilities as alternatives to arrest.
With the settlement of all outstanding legal actions against it, the SA Government announced that construction of the controversial Hindmarsh Island bridge would commence in October.
The Republic Bill was passed by the Senate.
After considering the Australian Government’s report submitted to it on 16 August, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Committee found that ‘no progress’ has been made in relation to Australia’s native title laws, which ‘risked creating an acute impairment’ of Indigenous land rights.
Greens Senator Bob Brown introduced a private member’s bill, the Human Rights (Mandatory Sentencing of Juvenile Offenders) Bill 1999, into the Senate.
Aboriginal Democrat Senator Mr Aden Ridgeway delivered his maiden speech in Federal Parliament. He called for a formal parliamentary apology to be made to the Stolen Generations.
In an out of court settlement, the Queensland government published a formal apology to Ms Lesley Williams for failing to repay or distribute monies taken from her wages earned as a domestic servant and placed in a trust account by the then Department of Native Affairs.
Wiradjuri woman Mrs Joy Williams lost her Supreme Court claim against the NSW government for failing to prevent ongoing maltreatment while a ward of the state. See inside p 11.
The Australian Institute of Criminology released a preliminary report by Vicki Dalton examining the 367 suicides in Australian prisons between 1980 and 1998. During this period, the prison population almost doubled and the suicide rate almost tripled. Almost half of the suicides were on remand, were overwhelmingly male and had an average age of 29. 14.4% of suicides were Aboriginal prisoners.
The Senate disallowed the passage of the Northern Territory’s proposed alternative right to negotiate under the Wik amendments. See inside p .
The Full Federal Court ruled that genocide is not a crime in Australian. See inside, p .
Federal Court Justice Olney found in favour of an Arrernte native title application over land in and around Alice Springs, Hayes v NT. He granted native title over 113 of the 166 parcels of land in the contested application.
The National Native Title Tribunal registered Queensland’s first two Indigenous land use agreements. Both agreements relate to the construction of a new lifesaving club and the gazettal of land for a park in North Mackay.
The WA Government introduced legislation into the Legislative Council to extinguish native title on about 1,300 leases.
Mining companies will be able to claim expenditure for the defence of native title claims as a tax deduction following a review of business taxation by the federal government.
In the Senate, the federal government introduced legislation designed to close a loophole which currently makes it lawful for some 4,000 Aboriginal sole parents to claim income support under both the Job Search program and the Commonwealth Development Employment Program.
Our Culture: Our Future, a comprehensive report assessing the adequacy of current legal protections for Indigenous intellectual property rights was launched. Commissioned by ATSIC, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and conducted by Terri Janke, it and recommends the establishment of a national legal framework to protect Indigenous intellectual property and heritage rights, a tribunal to mediate disputes and a national Indigenous Cultural Authority to act as a watchdog.
New statistics from NSW Corrective Services indicated that in 1995-1999 the number of female inmates in NSW prisons rose by 71%. The single fastest growing group in the female prison population is Aboriginal women.
ATSIC-commissioned research conducted by the Institute of Koori Education and the Research institute for Professional and Vocational Education and Training at Deakin University and the Gordon Institute of TAFE argues that planned changes to Abstudy amount to the federal government’s abandonment of equity targets for Aboriginal students in higher education.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/1999/88.html