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Houston, Jacqui --- "Recent Happenings" [2005] IndigLawB 31; (2005) 6(11) Indigenous Law Bulletin 23


Recent Happenings May 2005

compiled by Jacqui Houston

3 May

Police in the Western Australian town of Halls Creek are conducting a six-month trial where they will have the power to restrict the sale of certain types of alcohol and their quantities as preventative measures or in response to potential breaches of the peace. Restrictions can be placed at any time and can run for up to 48 hours.

3 May

The US-based Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism has spoken out against the Genographic Project which plans to ‘investigate the genetic roots of modern humans’. The GeneEthics Network believes the project is biopiracy and is not being conducted out of advocacy or respect for Indigenous peoples. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies is looking into the project.

4 May

The Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community has formally rejected the proposed site for a second bridge across the Murray River on the NSW-Victoria border. The decision was made on the basis that the selected location would compromise historic and cultural assets.

5 May

Lowitja O’Donoghue has said that she is disappointed that the South Australian Government has failed to follow through on key recommendations in the report she completed with Tim Costello on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankuntjatjara lands. The report, aimed at helping the State government address the social problems on the lands was stalled for six months. Ms O’Donoghue has not renewed her contract with the Aboriginal Lands Task Force.

6 May

The NSW Government has agreed to launch circle sentencing schemes in Armidale, Lismore and Kempsey over the course of the year. Impressed with the success of current circle sentencing schemes in the south of the State, the program will now extend to the north.

7 May

The ABC has released news of an internal report handed to the Federal Government in December 2004 which informs that ‘welfare rules are confusing and complicated’ and the system of addressing breaches of rules is excessive, counter-productive and disproportionately impacts on Indigenous people.

9 May

Possible breaches of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth) have been referred for investigation to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to land in Portland, Victoria. Despite the site being registered as a cultural heritage site, Glenelg Shire Council granted permission for an eight-lot subdivision.

10 May

The Tasmanian Government will today hand back 45,000 hectares of land on Cape Barren and another 11,000 on nearby Clarke Island to its traditional owners.

11 May

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has said that discussion regarding Indigenous land tenure and economic development has been ‘oversimplified’ and issues ‘inadequately addressed’. Writing for The Canberra Times, Mr Calma spoke of the need for governments to support options currently available like the concurrency of land rights with resource rights to generate income. He said that governments need to meet ‘their obligations for the provision of adequate services to communities, [and] to demonstrate a genuine commitment to economic development in Indigenous communities.’

13 May

Aunty Ruth Hegarty from the Queensland Stolen Wages Working Group has spoken of the group’s continued fight to achieve justice for wages that were stolen right up until the 1970s. She spoke of the maximum $4000 offered by the State Government: ‘It’s just a funeral fund, that’s all it has been.’

16 May

The Wangkumara community in south-west Queensland is asking for answers after oil company Santos remained working in an area in which it came across a significant cultural site. Remains were found last September but local people were only made aware of the find last week. Santos has released a statement saying that they admit there was a delay in reporting the find and are conducting their own investigation into the matter.

16 May

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has revealed that the Federal Government has refused him access to shared responsibility agreements (‘SRAs’) brokered between the Government and individual Indigenous communities. ‘It makes it very difficult to monitor them’, Mr Calma said.

17 May

Settlement has been reached over what is so far the biggest simultaneous negotiation of Indigenous Land Use Agreements (‘ILUAs’) in Australia’s history. Following a decision in the High Court in 2002 which found that many of the parks and reserves in the Northern Territory (‘NT’) had been invalidly declared some 20 to 30 years previously, the NT Government sought to negotiate an agreement with traditional owners.

18 May

Aboriginal Resource and Development Services will create a website to inform Indigenous people on Elcho Island, NT, about the legal system in the Yolngu Matha language.

19 May

Calls have been made for an investigation into police handling of a case where two men tied a noose around the neck of a 16-year-old Aboriginal boy and beat him. The Goondiwindi Magistrates Court fined the men $800 each after they pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm. An appeal will be launched against the leniency.

21 May

The Federal Government has funded the Arabunna Nulla Kari-Ku Wanga Association in South Australia to operate a project which aims to cut Indigenous crime rates by working specifically with young people who show signs of offending or who display at-risk behaviour.

26 May

Senator Aden Ridgeway has said that the Federal Government needs to establish an independent national stolen generations reparation tribunal. Co-Chair of the National Sorry Day Committee, Gillian Brannigan, says that today’s ceremonies to mark ‘National Healing Day’ are about reminding Australians of the many recommendations from the Bringing Them Home report.

26 May

Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gavin Jennings has refused requests for a preservation order to prevent three Indigenous artefacts from being taken back to the British Museum and London’s Royal Botanic Gardens.

27 May

The Victorian Government has announced $5.1 million to fund an organisation which will enable members of the Stolen Generations to trace their family trees and reconnect with relatives. The organisation will also link people with counselling to assist in healing.

31 May

Pat Dodson has labelled an agreement between the Federal Government and the Minerals Council as ‘nonsense’. The deal will see the Mineral Council encourage young Indigenous people working for them to deposit their earnings into bank accounts rather than sharing them with family. There will also be moves to discourage these young people from taking leave after a family funeral. The Government would increase infrastructure and training funds in return for the changes.


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