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van Bentum, Phoebe --- "Recent Happenings March 2006" [2006] IndigLawB 25; (2006) 6(18) Indigenous Law Bulletin 23


Recent Happenings March 2006

by Phoebe van Bentum

1 March

The Queensland Government has rejected an application by the Wangkumarra people, traditional owners of land in the State’s south-west, to halt the operation in the area of oil and gas producer Santos. Paul Travers of the Department of Natural Resources and Mines stated that there was no evidence the company’s activities were adversely affecting the area’s cultural sites.

2 March

In a landmark legal ruling, Northern Territory (‘NT’) policeman, Sergeant Robert Gregory Whittington, is to face a Supreme Court trial later this year charged with manslaughter and doing a dangerous act causing death after an incident at the remote community of Wadeye in October 2002. Sergeant Whittington fired his gun during a ‘payback’ fight between rival gangs on the Wadeye oval, killing an 18-year-old and injuring another man. The full Court of Criminal Appeal found the charges against Sergeant Whittington justified after the case was referred to them for a ruling last October.

3 March

The Rirratjingu clan at Nhulunbuy, north-west of Darwin, NT, are investing their mining royalties in housing projects to help solve their town’s accommodation shortage and to generate long term rental income. Fifteen rental houses have been bought, of which 13 will be leased back to Territory Housing. The construction of these houses will involve local Aboriginal people being taken on as apprentices.

5 March

An apology to the Stolen Generations was made in Parliament by the Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon, who committed to ‘tak[ing] the next step’ in the reconciliation process, and ‘resolving, in partnership with [Tasmanian Aboriginal people], the key question of the Stolen Generation once and for all’. Premier Lennon told his colleagues at the Labor Party election campaign launch that he was optimistic that reconciliation could be achieved. The legal director of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre stated that the figure for compensation of 40 Aboriginal people who had been taken from their home and assimilated into society was $4 million. Should the Lennon government be re-elected, Tasmania will be the first State to offer formal compensation to members of the Stolen Generations.

5 March

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough, has called for a national ban on kava in ‘a bid to rebuild’ Indigenous communities. Mr Brough wants the NT Government to withdraw the licences to use kava given to four NT communities, stating that it is impacting on families and communities and needs to be stopped. The NT Government has stated that it would support a nationwide ban on the substance in a bid to address the problems associated with the black market that exists in the Territory.

7 March

The traditional Mirarr owners at Kakadu, NT, claim that the Federal Government has used a native title claim to put pressure on them to approve mining of the massive Jabiluka uranium deposit in Kakadu National Park. The traditional owners said the Government had indicated they would be given ownership of the town of Jabiru if they reversed their opposition to the mining of Jabiluka. The Mirarr people, concerned about the impact of any mining on their land, have the right to veto mining at the site. Andy Ralph, chief executive of the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, emphasised the enormous pressure the Mirarr people are under regarding Jabiluka, and believes the attempt of several federal ministers to link the Jabiru native title claim with the Jabiluka mine is indicative of the increasing levels of pressure to come.

10 March

Cape York Indigenous leader Noel Pearson has suggested a scheme directly affecting Indigenous welfare payments stating that ‘the welfare system must create incentives for people in Indigenous communities to engage in work and education’. In the trial, young people who fail to look for work or study will face reduced payments, and family welfare payments will be linked to school attendance. The trial’s aim is to break welfare dependence and end the cycle of poverty that exists in many Indigenous communities by pushing people out of unemployment. Incentive payments for community-endorsed behaviour, such as addressing substance abuse issues and domestic violence are also being considered. The scheme is sought to be designed with close consultation between government and the communities involved, and participation in the trial occurs only on an ‘opt-in’ basis, to avoid breaches of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth).

13 March

Aboriginal leaders in Halls Creek, Western Australia (‘WA’), have called for a number of measures such as payment of food vouchers instead of money, and court orders to allow at-risk children to be forcibly removed from their parents, in a bid to stop the community’s self-destruction. Alcohol and sexual abuse are significant issues, with the rate of sexually transmitted diseases in Kimberley children high and figures presented to Parliament showing children as young as five being treated. Dennis Eggington, chief executive of Aboriginal Legal Service WA has applauded the courageous act of the town’s leaders in speaking out and emphasised that the removal of children would not mean removing them from their community, rather placing them with extended family, out of direct harm, until parents ‘got themselves on the right track’.

28 March

Aboriginal remains that were housed at museums in Britain will begin returning to Australia in the coming months after the British Parliament passed the Human Tissue Act last year, removing the legal block on the return of remains. All museums in Britain have now removed Aboriginal remains from display and most are negotiating with the Australian Government for their repatriation.

29 March

From 1 July 2006 the Federal Government plans to refuse new Community Development Employment Projects (‘CDEP’) program applicants their payments after one year. Participants would then be transferred onto lower mainstream payments, with the ‘savings’ put into providing training opportunities for those in the CDEP program. Labor opposes the plan, stating that such a scheme is not effective without also ensuring there are better employment opportunities available, and that the scheme creates even more disadvantage for Indigenous Australians.

30 March

A survey of 4,000 houses in remote Indigenous communities has shown that many are missing the basic necessities for healthy living: running water, a working toilet, water suitable for washing, and facilities for safe food storage. Houses are overcrowded and poorly designed, with disease able to spread quickly in such environments. The NT Housing Minister has been urged to go to the United Nations if the Federal Government says it is unable to find the money to build the 4,000 houses urgently needed.

31 March

The Federal Court rejected the Yankunytjatjara people’s claim to native title rights over the resort town of Yulara, near Uluru. Filed in 1998, the compensation claim for extinguished native title has therefore been dismissed. The Central Land Council will study the 300-page decision before it decides whether to make another application.


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