Aboriginal Law Bulletin --- "Update: 'Perspectives on Justice' Conference; 'Turning the Tide' Conference; Preparing for Success: the Need for an National Pre-Law Program for Indigenous Law Students" [1992] AboriginalLawB 48; (1992) 1(59) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2

• Update
• "Perspectives On Justice" Conference
• 'Turning The Tide" Conference
• Preparing For Success: The Need For A National Pre-Law Program For Indigenous Law Students

---

Update

"Perspectives On Justice" Conference

The recently established Justice Studies Unit of the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology is organising a national conference - Perspectives On justice - to be held at the Mayfair Crest Hotel, Brisbane, on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 March, 1993.

The conference will focus on the contemporary meaning of the term 'justice and areas of particular interest will include: human rights; women and the criminal justice system; Aboriginal issues; ethnic issues; police powers; and administrative justice. The ambit of the conference has been made deliberately wide, and will appeal to a diverse range of interested groups, including correctional personnel.

Keynote speakers will include: Professor P.Wilson, Dean, Faculty of Arts, QUT; Mr T. O'Gorman, Lawyer, and Chairman, Qld Civil Liberties Council; Mr D.Soloman, Chairman, Electoral & Administrative Review Commission; Dr J.Scutt, barrister and writer; and Ms I.Watson, lawyer.

The full cost of attendance will be $200, with a range of costs discounted for students, and full and half-day sessions. Lunch, morning and afternoon teas will be provided.

This inaugural conference will help establish the Justice Studies Unit, and should appeal to those working towards and maintaining justice on the eve of a new millennium.

For further information, contact; Peter Condliffe, [phone], Chris Lennings or Catherine Robie, [phone], or fax [phone].

'Turning The Tide" Conference

The Northern Territory University Faculty of Law and the Centre for Aboriginal and Islander Studies are holding a conference in Darwin on 14, 15 and 16 July 1993 entitled 'Turning the Tide: Indigenous Peoples and Sea Rights'.

The issues that will be covered include: indigenous law and the sea; creation of sea rights after Mabo; sea rights under legislation: land rights laws, sacred sites laws, etc; international and comparative law relating to sea rights; negotiating sea resource development; and conservation, management and environmental issues affecting sea rights.

The conference organisers have pointed out that in July in Darwin the average minimum temperature is 18C, the average maximum temperature is 30C and the number of days it rains, on average, is zero!

If anyone is interested in attending the conference or would like to deliver a paper or other form of presentation then contact: Steve Arnold, Faculty of Law, Northern Territory University, P.O. Box 40146 Casuarina, NT, 0811 or ph [phone]; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

Preparing for Success: the Need for a National Pre-Law Program for Indigenous Law Students

In 1990/91 a survey was conducted of all Australian law schools, the purpose of which was to explore the interface between indigenous students and legal education. The survey was conducted by Daniel Lavery, then a postgraduate at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. Three areas were focussed upon: firstly, how law schools treat Aboriginal rights in their curricula; secondly, discretionary admission programs for Aboriginal students within law schools; and thirdly, availability of preparatory programs for such students. The survey findings were written up and circulated in mid-1992.

The survey found that although there were discretionary admission schemes that allowed indigenous students into Australian law schools, the attrition rate for these students was discouragingly high. 'Access' was definitely on the improve - with many discretionary schemes in place - but 'success' was low. The principal recommendation of his paper was for establishment of an intensive short-course prelaw program for indigenous law students. Since the circulation of the paper to the Deans of all Australian law schools the response has been very positive. The Australasian Law Teachers Association is supportive of the concept and the Committee of Australian Law Deans is currently reporting back to Ministers Tickner and Baldwin. The establishment of a pre-law program, as proposed in Lavery's paper, is consistent with the broad reconciliation recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and, more specifically, with the stated goals of the National Aboriginal Education Policy, i.e., to enhance participation of indigenous persons in the education system. The need for a preparatory program is accepted by the vast majority; the question then is what is the most appropriate model to be adopted.

An intensive eight-week program offered during the tertiary summer holidays, and drawing applicants from all around Australia is the preferred model. It is the tried and proven model for law studies if the experience of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, which operates such a program for indigenous Canadians, is to be any guide. The national program will be a conduit to discretionary entrance schemes to (hopefully) each and every Australian law school.

The Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Participation, Development and Research (CATSIPRaD) at James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville, under the Directorship of Professor Errol West, has had much success in creating and running bridging courses for teachers, nurses, community workers, and social workers. The Centre's plan is to run a year-long pre-law program on their current model to prepare aspirants from north and central Qld for the JCU Law School. But it also plans to set up a pilot programme on the Saskatoon model to prepare indigenous students from every State and Territory for the law school experience.

Some criticism has been expressed that such program will be yet another obstacle to indigenous education. This concern is based on the false premise that to get indigenous students into the law schools is an end in itself. At an earlier point in time access may have been the primary issue. Yet, as the survey revealed, there are expanding opportunities for indigenous students to enter law schools through discretionary channels. The real stumbling block is not getting indigenous students 'into' law schools but getting them 'out' successfully. The primary emphasis of the pre-law program is success, a condition precedent being access.

Such criticism also ignores the high attrition rate. Currently, some 3 out of 4 flounder and to date less than 30 indigenous persons have successfully emerged from law school. To view access as the goal is a short-term perspective and misses the point entirely - the dual issues of both access and success must be addressed. It must be remembered that the law schools seek to gain from such a program also. Law schools want to admit committed, capable students and the program should deliver that product to them if there is to be any faith placed in it. The Saskatoon program has developed such a reputation that many Canadian law schools make discretionary admission to their law schools conditional on its successful completion. Such screening is unavoidable, but to say that access is therefore threatened is erroneous.

The support of individual law schools from the outset is very necessary. The program is not an end in itself; it is to service law schools and to prepare indigenous students for success. For the program to gain immediate acceptance the institutions which are to accept its alumni must be canvassed to catalogue their perceived needs. The program's curriculum, both structure and content, therefore needs to be constructed in consultation with law schools.

A conference - with the establishment and mechanics of a national intensive pre-law program being the main thrust - is planned for mid-February 1993. Representative law teachers and indigenous law students from law schools across Australia will attend. The conference is seen as a means of focussing the various aspects of indigenous legal education into a strategic whole. The concept of the pre-law program is not being viewed in isolation but as an aspect of an overall strategy for indigenous legal education. As a stand-alone initiative, without the discretionary entrance schemes and necessary support structures in the universities, the intensive pre-law program is likely to lack efficacy.

The conference is being organized by CATSIPRaD at JCU and it will be held in Cairns from 15 -19 February.

Darcy Blackman