Indigenous Law Bulletin
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by Jacqui Houston
At the middle of this year, the National Indigenous Legal Advocacy Courses (‘NILAC’) curriculum was accredited as a replacement for the National Indigenous Legal Studies (‘NILS’) curriculum. Developed by the Indigenous Studies Product Development Unit of TAFE Queensland, on behalf of the Social Justice Unit of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (‘HREOC’), the training courses have been enhanced to ensure that they meet new national accreditation standards. In line with the new requirements, the courses were modified to a competency-based model rather than a module system of learning, having the positive effect of enhancing the practical skills of Indigenous course participants.
The NILAC program aims to improve the provision of quality legal services by equipping participants with skills and knowledge of legal systems and procedure. Three courses are available through institutions licensed by HREOC:
The courses range in their level of complexity and so cater for the varied needs of Indigenous legal service staff. Tom Corrie, Chief Executive Officer of Tharpuntoo Cape York Legal Service Aboriginal Corporation (‘Tharpuntoo Legal Service’) in Queensland, spoke of the positive impact that the courses have had on his staff and the day to day operations of the service. Each staff member completed the course to Diploma level via trainers who attended the service one afternoon per week for the duration of the course. This adaptability of the curriculum obviously endears itself to legal services who often find themselves short on time to provide legal services let alone sending staff away from the service for blocks of time to attend training. Students who are not employed undertake a vocational placement as part of their training.
Gina Keating, Program Manager, Justice and Legal Studies at the Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE joined Tom Corrie on the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee (the ‘Committee’). The Committee comprised representatives of HREOC, Anti-Discrimination Boards and Equal Opportunity Commissions, Indigenous legal services, educators (including those who taught NILS), business/industry and government, former students and other Indigenous representatives. Ms Keating, drawing on her experience in managing the NILS courses, is a strong advocate for the increased vocational focus of the courses and impressed upon the Committee the importance of retaining the ‘stand alone’ feature of Certificate III in National Indigenous Legal Advocacy. She told the ILB of the importance of this Certificate to the curriculum as an opportunity for elders and other Indigenous community members to learn about the Australian criminal and civil justice systems and to apply this understanding to particular legal issues. This knowledge has particular importance in remote communities where the ability to identify legal need and awareness of possible courses of action can mean a distinct increase in access to justice.
Indigenous legal services such as Tharpuntoo find that having administrative staff with knowledge of the legal system and advocacy as well as skills in interviewing, client statement-taking and making bail applications means that their Field Officers are able to deal with a greater number of matters and spend less time on documentation tasks. These changes translate to enhanced accessibility of legal services to Indigenous people and strengthens essential trust relationships.
NILAC training for some certificate levels includes instruction in the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody,[2] the Bringing them Home report[3] and issues surrounding recognition of customary law. HREOC notes that the courses do not equip graduates to give legal advice but instead
improve the level of skills and knowledge training available for Indigenous peoples working in legal environments or participating in community justice mechanisms and advisory positions. They provide the opportunity to study the operation of the law from the perspective of Indigenous peoples, their cultures, aspirations and social context.[4]
Staff of Tharpuntoo Legal Service found that even though some aspects of the training covered areas they were already skilled in, the format of the training and the relevance of the content to the work of Indigenous legal services ensure that the entire course contributes to improved legal services. Practical course components such as mock courts expose staff to criminal and civil procedures, giving them insights into the impact of legal issues on Indigenous people. Modules in law reform and representing the organisation further build the capacity of course participants to defend and protect human rights through available legal mechanisms.
To obtain a licence to teach NILAC, organisations must show that they are adequately equipped to deliver the curriculum in a culturally appropriate manner, evidenced in part by demonstrating consultation with local Indigenous legal services in the region and the establishment of an Indigenous Community Advisory Board. At the time of writing, three educational institutions have been licensed to deliver the courses: Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE, the Institute for Aboriginal Development (Alice Springs) and Tranby Aboriginal College, with wide interest from institutions and legal services in other states. HREOC estimates that there will be approximately 100 Indigenous students enrolled in the courses by early 2004.
The Curriculum Development Advisory Committee’s review has developed a course structure which appears to be gaining considerable ground in equipping Indigenous people with legal skills. These skills, combined with the students’ cultural knowledge, form a powerful tool in self-determination. The fact that an increasing number of institutions are registering to teach the courses and an increasing number of Indigenous students are enrolling in them, is a positive step for the provision of legal services to Indigenous people disadvantaged by their lack of access to justice.
Jacqui Houston is an editor of the Indigenous Law Bulletin. The information in this article was compiled from interviews with Gina Keating of Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE, Darren Dick of HREOC and Tom Corrie of Tharpuntoo Cape York Legal Service Aboriginal Corporation. Thank you to each of these people for giving their time and expertise.
[1] http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/nilac/index.html.
[2] http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/rciadic/
[3] Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997. http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/stolen_children/index.html
[4] See n1.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/2003/63.html