Aboriginal Law Bulletin --- "News: Aborigines in Trade Unions; Ernie Bridge; Streetwize; Court Out" [1986] AboriginalLawB 10; (1986) 1(19) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2

• News
• Aborigines In Trade Unions
• Ernie Bridge
• Streetwize
• Court Out

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News

Aborigines in Trade Unions

From May 18 to May 23, the Sydney Centre of the Australian Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA) will be running an Aborigines in Trade Unions course. The course will be made up of a series of Information sessions and group discussions plus seminars by Aboriginal guest speakers.

The course will assist you in:

• public speaking
• understanding your rights
• enforcing your rights
• negotiating
• understanding the industrial relations system
• understanding the role at the union delegate and the trade union movement
• plus practical sessions in union meetings and negotiating.

The course is open to any Aboriginal member of a union and there is no cost to the unionist or their union. Country students will have their accommodation and travel requirements provided by TUTA.

You will need to apply for study leave from your employer, fill out an application form and get it endorsed by your union. For application forms and more informatlon, contact the course leader.

Chilla Miller
8th Floor, 24 Campbell Street, Sydney 2000
PO Box K722, Haymarket NSW 2000
Phone: [phone]

or Trade Union Committee On Aboriginal Rights (TUCAR) [phone].

Ernie Bridge

The recent elections in the state of Western Australia saw the re-election of the Brian Burke Labor Government. The victory allowed Premier Burke to adjust the seating around the Cabinet table and provided the first Aboriginal Cabinet Minister in Australia's history. The man is Mr Ernie Bridge, the local member for the Kimberley seat which he originally won in 1983.

Ernie Bridge's father was a Queensland pastoralist who moved from cattle running to the meat business. This has allowed Mr Bridge a strong base from which to launch his political career. He spent eighteen years in local government before moving into the state arena.

As a politician Mr Bridge has made many attempts to distance himself from the contentious issue of land rights in his stag. He believes that a land rights package should not be pursued because the public is not ready and also wants to remove the land rights issue from the 'political arena'. As the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in WA he will undoubtedly receive flak from his political opponents and also from Aboriginal groups not happy with the dumping of land rights as an option for their development.

Streetwize

The latest issue of Streetwize, a jive talking comic that lowers the tone on legal issues for kids, is on 'fighting discrimination'.

This is the sixth issue produced by Redfern Legal Centre Publishing. In conjunction with Redfern are Marrickville Legal Centre and the Legal Aid Commission of NSW with funding for the sixth issue, like most of the others, being provided by the Law Foundation of NSW.

The comic is comprised several different episodes such as 'Koories Rule OK!', 'Not Your Girl' and 'Its No Joke!'. These stories manage to succinctly capture usual forms of discrimination (e.g, race, sexual harassment, sexuality and disability) in an entertaining and non-patronising manner.

An aim of Streetwize Comics is to stimulate young people to think critically about legal and social issues relevant to them.

The comic style makes it easy-to-read allowing young people to identify with the situations and problems.

While the variety of stories provide different ways to combat discrimination including legal remedies, negotiation and community awareness.

With the Streetwize comics on special themes class kits are available for teachers. For more information, kits, comics contact:

Streetwize Comics, 73 Pitt Street, Redfern, NSW 2016
[phone]

As the legal information in the comic is only correct for NSW, separate comics are available for Victorian people (no discrimination issue available yet). Contact:

Streetwize Victoria 14-16 Gerttude Street, Fitzroy Vic 3065
[phone]

Court Out

Anyone familiar with the magazine Matilda will be aware of the column 'Court Out' that covers the menacing underground of the legal system's players. Recently the column has caused some heartburn in Darwin by its coverage of Supreme Court Justices, the occasional Queens Counsel and a not too successful co-ordinator of High Court appearances.

Michael Maurice, the Aboriginal Land Commissioner, appeared in three issues which compiled an interesting vignette on the Justice.

Another luminary discussed is Ian Barker, QC, who represented the Northern Territory Government in its attempt to hamper the entire land claim process 'Court Out' points to an incident in University House, Canberra where Ian Barker had a room with senior counsel for David Combe (another sacrifice,). It seems the wall of the room had the following sentiment pained on it. 'There ain't no fucking justice'.