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compiled by Jacqui Houston
South Australia’s Opposition Aboriginal Affairs spokesman Duncan McFetridge has called on the Government to introduce safe houses into communities throughout the State in an effort to break cycles of abuse. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jay Weatherill says that he is currently negotiating with the Federal Government to determine an approach to abuse.
The Northern Territory (‘NT’) Government is considering launching a High Court appeal to the Federal Court’s decision to grant traditional owners exclusive rights to the inter-tidal waters in Blue Mud Bay. The decision gives control over the issue of fishing permits over the relevant waters to the Northern Land Council (‘NLC’).
The Full Bench of the Federal Court has today rejected an appeal by the NLC representing nine Larrakia families against the Federal Court’s 2006 dismissal of a native title claim. The NLC is considering whether to lodge a High Court appeal.
The NT Supreme Court has ruled that Superintendent Sergeant Robert Whittington cannot face charges of committing a dangerous act causing death in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Wadeye man in 2002. Justice Dean Mildren ruled that the charge had been laid outside of the two-month period for the bringing of such charges in accordance with the Police Administration Act (NT). The death occurred after the man tackled a gunman who inadvertently fired a shot into the ground. Whittington fired four shots, one of which hit the Wadeye man in the back.
Indigenous leaders of the Wongatha people have chosen not to appeal the decision of the Federal Court which denied theirs and seven other overlapping claims. Smaller claims will now be lodged by the Goldfields Land and Sea Council.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has today announced an agreement between the Yallanji people and the State Government which will see more than 200,000 hectares of land transferred to the traditional owners in Cape York. The agreement, which also boosts the national park area on Cape York, now moves to the National Native Title Tribunal for registration.
Chief Executive of the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, Glen Kelly, has branded the Western Australian (‘WA’) Government’s appeal against the Federal Court’s ruling regarding the existence of native title over Perth ‘excessive’. Mr Kelly says that the documents lodged by the Government ‘are attacking findings of fact to the extent that they are effectively asking the Full Court to re-hear the case from scratch.’
The family of a 35-year-old WA man who died in police custody 12 months ago is calling for an open coronial inquest into his death. Police in WA have only just completed their investigation into the man’s death in a police wagon and concluded that no officer will be charged over the matter. The police report has been forwarded to the State Coroner.
An Alice Springs-based company has formulated a system of protecting artworks and artists from fraud and forgery. IdenteArt has developed technology with CSIRO to use a system of microscopic dots sprayed onto a tamper-proof label or onto artwork itself which stores information on the artwork and its creator, and can also store gallery or art centre information. A database of the information will allow tracking of works through the art market.
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough has blamed the now-abolished Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (‘ATSIC’) for his Government’s lack of achievement in reconciliation. He says that ATSIC left the Government’s direction ‘hamstrung’.
A complaint has been sent to NT Police Commissioner Paul White alleging that a female constable, looking for illegal kava, entered a men-only ceremony in Maningrida in 2006. Ben Marrjarra Pascoe, of Maningrida, says that the ‘continued lack of respect by police for the traditional practices and customs of the area is potentially destabilising…’
Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough has given Alice Springs Town Camp residents one month to accept his offer to keep their special purpose leases, however the residential areas of the camps would need to be sub-leased to the NT Government on terms of no less than 99 years. Without sub-leasing, the Federal Government will not ‘normalise’ the camps into suburbs. Opposition spokesperson on Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, says that basic services like clean water and electricity should not be conditional.
The Canadian Government is set to pay over $1 billion in compensation to Indigenous people who were forced to attend ‘residential schools’ where they were isolated from family, denied their culture and language, and exposed to diseases like tuberculosis. An investigation by the Globe and Mail newspaper found that the Government was warned as early as 1907 that tuberculosis and other diseases were widespread among the school students; conditions that lead to many deaths.
Vicki Lee Roach, an Aboriginal prisoner in the Dame Phyllis Frost Women’s Prison in Victoria has brought a case against the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) which prohibits prisoners from voting in Federal election. Ms Roach is arguing that the ban, introduced last year, is unconstitutional. The case is expected to be heard in the High Court in June.
The Federal Court has today recognised the exclusive native title rights of the Yungngora people of Noonkanbah in the Kimberley, WA, over an area in which the community runs a cattle station. Wayne Bergman, of the Kimberley Land Council, said that the determination ‘provides a level of certainty to negotiate with mining companies or any third parties… and it puts traditional owners in the best possible position to make decisions.’
The Aboriginal Justice Advocacy Committee in the NT has condemned the training of Territory police officers in the new ‘Social Order Crime Reduction Strategy’. Chris Howse, of the Committee, says that the policy which acts to move people on more regularly in order to address anti-social behaviour ‘will result in people getting locked up and families being split apart’.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/2007/24.html