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Aboriginal Law Bulletin

Aboriginal Law Bulletin (ALB)
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Queensland Government Aboriginal and Torres Strait Isander Overview Committee --- "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Overview Committee (Qld)" [1994] AboriginalLawB 24; (1994) 3(68) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 8


Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Overview Committee

Summary of the Qld Government's Progress Report on Implementation to December 1993, Volume 1, Appendix A, “Report by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Overview Committee.”

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Overview Committee, comprising 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, was established in December 1992 through the recommendation of an Inter-departmental Working Group. Its major functions (see Terms of Reference) are to monitor and report on the Queensland Government's implementation of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody (RCIADIC) recommendations, to advise on priorities for their implementation, and to ensure that meaningful consultation is held with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Recent demonstrations by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities throughout Australia and particularly in Queensland suggest that considerable effort needs to be made by Government Departments and agencies to implement the RCIADIC recommendations and so address the underlying causes of the incidence of Aboriginal deaths in custody.

The Queensland Governmentt has allocated $10.5 million (over and above existing programs) for the funding of a number of initiatives over three years. Unfortunately, late establishment of` the Overview Committee did not allow its involvement in the initial priority setting of funding bids. The Committee has expressed concern thatt the consultation process involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should have been more extensive, and that there is a lack of suitable protocols within individual Departments and agencies to consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The Committee has also expressed its disappointmentt that the Queensland Government's response to the Final Report of the RCIADIC has not progressed as speedily as expected. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are becoming frustrated at the apparently slow rate of implementation of some new programs.

Terms of Reference of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Overview Committee

To ensure meaningful consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody.

To ensure that an integrated approach is adopted which reflects the aspirations and cultural values of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

To advise the Interdepartmental Committee (and the Minister where appropriate) on priorities for the implementation of RCIADIC recommendations.

To provide advice on policy options.

To ensure that appropriate information is disseminated to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. To participate in monitoring the implementation of recommendations.

To work collaboratively with the Interdepartmental Committee on other tasks associated with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody.

Law and Justice

Current reviews of the Coroner's Act 1958 (Qld) and the Corrective Services Act 1988 (Qld) are important reforms which will have a major influence in the Aboriginal deaths in custody area. Similarly, the introduction of the Juvenile Justice Act 1992 (Qld) substantially improves the manner in which juveniles are treated in the criminal justice system.

The establishment by State Cabinet of the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee (AJAC) is also recognised as a significant step towards the reform of criminal justice issues as raised by the RCIADIC. The primary function of the AJAC is to provide expert advice to the Minister for the Arts, Justice and Attorney-General on law and justice matters in respect of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

However, the AJAC has not been resourced sufficiently to enable it to discharge its responsibilities effectively in accordance with its terms of reference.

It is clear that regardless of detailed responses to each recommendation of the 1993 Queensland Progress Report on the implementation of the RCIADIC recommendations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are still at risk in the custodial environment. Since the Final Report of the RCIADIC in 1989,14 Aboriginal people have died in custody in Queensland. The latest death occurred on 9 January 1994. Of the 14 deaths, seven occurred in police custody and seven in the custody of Corrective Services.

Whilst the reduction by 18 percent in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being held in police watch-houses in Queensland is welcome, the Overview Committee reiterates strongly the statement by the Australian Institute of Criminology in its reports arising from the Second National Police Custody Survey in August 1992:

the level of over-representation of Aboriginal people in police custody remains disturbingly high... [A)lmost 29 percent of the custodies were of Aboriginal people, although they make up only 1.5 percent of the adult population (nationally).

The Overview Committee acknowledges the effort by the Police Service in producing the Police Custody Manual, and endorses the production of the Detention Centre Procedures Manual by the Division of Protective Services and Juvenile Justice of the Department of Family Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs. Both manuals take into account RCIADC recommendations. However, until the operational procedures in these manuals are embraced, the /high risk situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custodial environments will not have changed.

Conclusion

The principles and general thrust of the RCIADIC indicate that wherever possible the involvement and participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in all facets of implementation of its recommendations is of paramount importance to achieving the desired outcomes. The establishment of formal consultative structures such as this Committee is a positive step in the process.

Only when Queensland Government Departments and agencies are working to embrace the consultation process will the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people be advanced.


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