Cassidy, Lucienne --- "An Interview with Eddie Cubillo" [2010] IndigLawB 45; (2010) 7(21) Indigenous Law Bulletin 29

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AN INTERVIEW WITH EDDIE CUBILLO

by Lucienne Cassidy

In June 2010, Eddie Cubillo was appointed as the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, and has a record as a strong advocate for the rights of Indigenous Territorians as the Chair of the Northern Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) and the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee. Eddie was admitted as a Legal Practitioner of the Northern Territory Supreme Court in 2002 and in 2009 completed a Masters of Laws (International Law and International Relations). Eddie was born in Darwin and his mother is of Larrakia/Wadjigan descent and his father is Central Arrente.

How does the complaints and conciliation procedure work at the Commission?

Complaints have to be in writing and demonstrate an attribute and area under the Anti-Discrimination Act (NT). We have a complaint form but some prefer to lodge their complaint in letter format. We have people coming in off the streets – the majority come in that way, a free call number and people can get our complaint form online. We don’t have specialised intake officers, so our complaints officers have to go offline and do that as well. That’s just the creativity of our small office. Our complaints procedure under the Anti-Discrimination Act is built around the conciliation process. Our conciliation staff are highly trained in this area, and provide a confidential environment for the parties to reach a mutually acceptable outcome through the conciliation process. The conciliation process gives the opportunity for parties to come to their own solution rather than have a solution imposed upon them should the matter proceed to a hearing. I must point out that many Indigenous people have several different dialects that they speak as a first language and their numeracy and literacy isn’t of a high standard due to a plethora of reasons. This means many would not understand what our forms are saying. Our lack of resources and staff makes it difficult for us to provide a practical service to accommodate this contentious issue. Our networking with other NGO’s and the Aboriginal and NT legal Aid services assist in this area.

In 2009 and 2010 we actually had 186 written complaints from all over – and that doesn’t really give a real picture on how many complaints we really get. Although we received 186 written complaints there were a total of 300 grounds of discrimination as each complaint may have several grounds. Complaints relating to racial discrimination are up; sexual harassment complaints have come down. We don’t know whether people don’t want to come forward, or if our training has been so effective that people now realise what types of acts constitute sexual harassment. But I assume that woman still find it difficult coming forward.

Is collaboration with Non-Government Organisations one way of addressing access to remote areas?

Yes, we have huge partnerships. We travel with Legal Aid Commission, Consumer Affairs and we share offices here in Darwin with the Information Commissioner. For example we set up International Human Rights Day in December and we couldn’t get that off the ground unless we had all those collaborations, and Government Agencies providing sponsorships to fly Megan Davis up to be the guest speaker.

How do you overcome the limitations on what the Commission can do?

Obviously when the Racial Discrimination Act (Cth) was suspended, the Commission was very restricted. When that happened, the Commission had to make sure that people were getting their services in line with our Act. Now we ensure that people know that there is someone there who can listen, and who can lobby on their behalf. But there are still limitations to our ability to get out and do the advocating. We must be very creative in how we get our message out, and in utilising mediums such as the media, and identifying who to target, which is difficult. Resources are a problem, because the Territory is such a big place and how you go about doing our work with limited staff is a challenge. The nine people in our office, probably like in most NGO offices, have been around for a long time and they’re committed, and they do a lot more than they are paid to do. So how you keep those people and make sure that they don’t burn out is another challenge. If they leave, there goes a lot of historical knowledge and experience, so it’s all a balancing act.

With respect to the aspects of the Intervention that you see as problematic, do you feel as the Commissioner that you have to be careful with what you say, or do you feel like you can be open about your views?

I’m a pretty straightforward and honest person, so if there is something that needs to be said, I will say it. However, you need to be strategic on how you deliver it and what the best outcome is – these are things you need to think about. Being Indigenous myself, it affects a lot of my family so it’s close to home. I see people hurting in reference to how it’s dealt with. But like most Indigenous people they are very resilient, and over the years have experienced very similar things, they continue on as they have always done. Hopefully one day we can all share the same rights. Again it’s just a balancing act – if it’s discriminatory and it breaches our Act my role is to come out and say that. Present proposals about a way forward to our Ministers - whether it is state or federal, and continue to lobby on behalf of all people in the NT.

Do you feel like there are any positive outcomes of the Intervention?

There are some good things happening out there. People, who are responsible for delivering services, generally want to do a good job. One of the major issues is the lack of consultation with Indigenous people and hopefully that’s changing now. I think they’re looking at engaging Aboriginal people in regards to the services that have come out of the recent amendments to the Intervention and hopefully with that comes better service delivery. There are also many contentious issues, e.g. welfare quarantining, housing etc. But as a Territory, the Intervention laws are imposed on us from the Federal government, so we have to consider that as well. Also Indigenous people are gaining knowledge of their rights because of the Intervention. People like Barbara Shaw using the UN are a positive. There are various other organisations like the DTP (Diplomacy Training Program), who like the Commission provide human rights courses to Indigenous people of the Northern Territory, so hopefully these skills attain will encourage people to come out and speak about their rights and influence the powers that be to do the right thing.