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Aboriginal Law Bulletin

Aboriginal Law Bulletin (ALB)
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Aboriginal Law Bulletin --- "Update: Victory against Verbals; Waiting for the Resolution; Diplomacy Training Program" [1989] AboriginalLawB 56; (1989) 1(41) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2


Update

Victory against Verbals

Danny Doyle, a member of the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre, won a civil court action in Brisbane in which he claimed damages for unlawful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Doyle was able to prove that the prosecution had fabricated a confession in which he allegedly admitted to breaking and entering a house and attempting to enter another on February 6, 1985. On the day he was supposed to be breaking into the two homes near Brisbane, Doyle was in a car being driven to Sydney Airport, from where he flew to Adelaide. On the eve of his trial, the Crown withdrew the charges, but Doyle decided to pursue a civil action against Queensland Detectives Michael Dwyer and Kim Herbert. The four-person jury found the alleged confession had been fabricated and awarded Doyle $5,125 for false imprisonment and $5,575 for malicious prosecution. Judge Boyce ordered the State Government to pay almost two-thirds of the total award and the two detectives to pay the remainder.

Waiting for the Resolution

In an article under this title published in. The Australian Quarterly (Vol 61, No 2, Winter 1989 p 242) Father Frank Brennan SJ recounts the full story of the attempt to have Parliament adopt a bipartisan resolution as the first substantive item of business in the new Parliament House.

The resolution was adopted on 23rd August 1988. But it did not have bipartisan support because of the Opposition's insistence on an amendment which other parties found unacceptable. The amendment would have qualified the reference to self-determination in clause 2(b) by adding the words "in common with all other Australians".

The text of the resolution as adopted in both houses declares that the House of Representatives/Senate

1. Acknowledges that:
(a) Australia was occupied by Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders who had settled for thousands of years before British settlement at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788;

(b) Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders suffered dispossession and dispersal upon acquisition of their traditional lands by the British Crown; and (c) Aborigines and Torres S trait Islanders were denied full citizenship rights of the Commonwealth of Australia prior to the 1967 referendum.

2. Affirms:
(a) the importance of Aboriginal and Tones Strait Islander culture and heritage; and

(b) the entitlement of Aborigines and Tones Strait Islanders to self-management and self-determination subject to the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia; and

3. Considers it desirable that the Commonwealth further promote reconciliation with Aboriginal and Tones Strait Islander citizens providing recognition of their special place in the Commonwealth of Australia.

Diplomacy Training Program

With over 45 applicants from across the Asia-Pacific region, the January 1990 session is shaping up to be an outstanding success. The only course of its type in the world, the DTP is attracting indigenous people and minority group leaders, ranging from FLNKS (the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front) representatives for New Caledonia (Kanaky), to community level activists from the Philippines, and includes a strong contingent of Maoris and Pacific Islanders.

International representation, particularly at the UN, is becoming more and more necessary for the many indigenous struggles in this region. The DTP course goes beyond the legal and procedural aspects of utilising the UN to include negotiation, lobbying and using the media - skills which are just as applicable to local level campaigning and lobbying as at the UN.

Developed by former East Timor international representative Jose Ramos-Horta, the course builds on his experience of the last 13 years. The Asia-Pacific region is very under-represented at the United Nations. The DTP will train people in this region to represent themselves, rather than rely on European or North American based Non-Government Organisations to speak for them.

The January course runs from Jan 8 to Feb 2 and a few places are still available for Australian Aboriginal people. Abstudy will pay for travel and accommodation expenses.

Contact DTP Coordinator John Scott-Murphy (02) 6972247.


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