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Houston, Jacqui --- "Recent Happenings December 2006" [2007] IndigLawB 7; (2007) 6(24) Indigenous Law Bulletin 27

Recent Happenings December 2006

compiled by Jacqui Houston

1 December

National Indigenous Council (‘NIC’) member Joe Proctor has quit the government-appointed panel, citing the Federal Government’s failure to address Indigenous economic development. Indigenous Business Australia chairperson Joseph Elu is also leaving the NIC after having chosen not to renew his contract.

4 December

With funding from the National Heritage Trust and the National Disaster Mitigation Program, the Central Land Council is employing a fire management officer to train Aboriginal communities in Central Australia in modern fire management techniques. The move recognises that changes in the landscape and the denial of a role for traditional owners in decision-making has left many communities ill-equipped to participate in fire management on their lands.

5 December

Brian Stacey, a representative of Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough, has told a meeting of Alice Springs residents that the Federal Government may take its funding for accommodation away from Alice Springs if the town does not support the placement of demountables in an industrial area. The plan will see 300 people placed in the temporary buildings in an attempt to ease crowding of town camps. After hearing objections from various attendees, Mr Stacey suggested that the Government may direct its accommodation funding elsewhere and said he wanted to ensure ‘the Federal Government is backed.’

6 December

A Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission report obtained by The Australian newspaper has found that a charge of assault by a police officer on a disabled Aboriginal man was not brought because of a belief that the officer would not be convicted. The report said that a prosecution was not likely to be successful because the ‘legal system and processes are completely foreign to Indigenous peoples.’

11 December

The Western Australian (‘WA’) Government is considering expanding the coverage of its Northbridge Curfew after figures released from the State’s Office of Crime Prevention show a fall in the number of young people in the area in curfew hours as well as a drop in unsupervised youth encounters with the Police Juvenile Aid Group (‘JAG’).

12 December

Claims for payment from the Tasmanian Government’s stolen generations compensation scheme will be assessed by former Premier Ray Groom. Mr Groom is enthusiastic about his new role, stating that the scheme could bring ‘genuine recognition, it’s a very tangible recognition of the injustices that have been suffered.’ Michael Mansell of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has welcomed Mr Groom’s appointment.

13 December

Human rights groups have called for the United Nations Special Rapporteur of the Commission on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, Mr Rodolfo Stavenhagen, to visit Australia when he visits the Asia Pacific region in 2007.

14 December

In response to inadequate funding and understaffing, around 40 child protection workers have commenced industrial action, refusing to visit Aboriginal communities on Cape York. One officer was sacked and two face disciplinary action after it was found that it took workers three weeks to take action on a report of the rape of a 10-year-old girl. According to Queensland Public Sector Union Organiser Allison Finely-Bissett, the Department of Child Safety doesn’t have ‘sufficient staff to do proper casework in the communities.’

14 December

The Kalahari Bushmen, indigenous to Botswana, have won their fight for land rights against the Botswana Government. The ruling included that the eviction of the Bushmen from their land was unconstitutional and that they have the right to hunt and gather in what is now the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, without the need for permits. The Government is not, however, obliged to provide services for the Bushmen in the Reserve.

14 December

The Goldfields Land and Sea Council in WA has called on the State’s new Indigenous Affairs Minister, Michelle Roberts, to establish a repayment scheme similar to the New South Wales (‘NSW’) Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme. Executive Director Brian Wyatt cited cases within the Goldfields pastoral industry and on some missions where wages and other payments were withheld or underpaid up until the late 1960s.

14 December

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has supported the decision of Director of Public Prosecutions (‘DPP’), Leanne Clare, not to charge Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley in relation to the death in custody of Mulrunji. Andrew Boe, lawyer for the Palm Island Aboriginal Council has called on the State’s Attorney-General to step in and indict Senior Sergeant Hurley. While Ms Clare labelled the violent death a ‘terrible accident’, Mulrunji’s sister Valmai Aplin said that she didn’t feel that the family would ever see justice. The State’s Crime and Misconduct Commission found that there was not sufficient evidence for any disciplinary action to be brought against the officer, however the Police Ethical Standards Command will now investigate the matter in relation to the application (or denial) of appropriate first aid to Mulrunji in custody, the initial police investigation and the use of appropriate police procedures.

20 December

Tirkandi Inaburra Cultural and Development Centre in rural NSW will today celebrate its first birthday. In the past 12 months the Centre has produced 26 graduates; Aboriginal teenagers who have benefited from the centre’s educational, vocational and cultural programs.

20 December

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, has called for the Council of Australian Governments Indigenous Affairs Ministers ‘to initiate a national audit on the status of state, territory and Federal adoption of the Royal Commission [into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody] recommendations and report back to the Australian public by mid-2007.’

26 December

Former judge Pat Shanahan, selected by the Queensland Government to independently review the DPP’s decision not to prosecute Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, has removed himself from the review after it was revealed that he was one of a three-member panel which unanimously appointed Ms Leanne Clare to the DPP role in 2000.

28 December

South Australian Indigenous Affairs Minister Jay Weatherill has used today’s Proclamation Day ceremony to renew the Government’s commitment to reconciliation made 170 years ago.


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