Indigenous Law Bulletin
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by Phoebe van Bentum
A new 100 per cent Medicare rebate will ensure that Aboriginal Health workers in the Northern Territory have the same recognition as general practice nurses, and be able to provide immunisation and wound-management services on behalf of GPs from May.
The New South Wales (‘NSW’) Teachers’ Federation decided in a Statewide meeting that it would call for all teaching students to have a compulsory component to their course that teaches Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues, in order to facilitate a better understanding of the culture.
Legal action is being threatened against the newly operational Lake Cowal gold mine in central western NSW, with Indigenous groups outraged at the owners proceeding with the building of the mine without waiting for a Federal Court ruling as to who holds native title there. The Department of Lands title search has already established that native title had not been extinguished in some areas of the mine. The Indigenous Justice Advocacy Group will be starting a common law action for damages.
New figures from the Northern Territory Government reveal Alice Springs to be the most violent and dangerous town in Australia. Police and Emergency Service Officers believe the rise in crime rates directly correlates to the influx of people into town camps from remote communities. With housing conditions seriously deteriorating, alcohol related crime has risen and the hospitals are overwhelmed.
Victoria’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Gavin Jennings, stopped short of agreeing to ‘Camp Sovereignty’ near Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens being established as a permanent legal structure. The returned remains of unnamed Aborigines are interred there, and it was once a corroboree site for the Boonerwrung people. Melbourne City Council intends the site to be disbanded.
Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, dismissed concerns by Queensland’s Attorney-General, Linda Lavarch, on the way Aboriginal Legal Services (‘ALSs’) are working. Mr Ruddock believes the ALSs will be more representative of Indigenous people if they are subject to a competitive tendering environment, stating that if service providers fail to deliver they will lose their tender. Last year the Howard Government cut back the number of Indigenous legal aid services in Queensland from 11 to two. Ms Lavarch states there are not enough services in the State to provide adequate legal representation, with reports of some Indigenous people waiting nine months in gaol before seeing a lawyer.
There is concern among community and welfare groups in Sydney’s Redfern-Waterloo area regarding plans to build 18-storey office towers near Redfern train station. The plan would reduce housing around the Block, and change the zoning from ‘residential’ to ‘mixed use’; encouraging business developments in buildings with a three-storey height limit; and limiting the number of homes to 30. Mick Mundine, of the Aboriginal Housing Corporation, has questioned why the Aboriginal-owned land was the only zone in the Redfern-Waterloo area for which reduced housing densities were proposed. There are calls for the draft plan to be deferred until further details can be provided on the crucial points for the provision of affordable housing and open space, as well as heritage protection.
The native title claim of about 3000 people in nine Larrakia families in the Northern Territory for 250 pockets of land in and around Darwin has been rejected in the Federal Court. Justice John Mansfield said he dismissed the claim partly because ‘a sincere and intense’ desire by the people to re-establish their traditional ways in a modern context was not enough to win the case. The case was dismissed because the traditional laws and customs of the Larrakia were not observed on the land, and that the connection with the land had been tenuous for much of the 20th century. There is intent to appeal the decision.
Ten test cases are being launched in May seeking compensation for physical and psychological injuries within the Baryulgil Aboriginal community in northern NSW, after all of its 200 members were exposed to dangerously high levels of asbestos. In 1984, a Federal Parliament Select Committee heard evidence that James Hardie Industries knowingly exposed its Baryulgil workers to dangerous levels of asbestos without adequate protection, and had not met legal health requirements in 1976 when it sold the mine. In 2004 Hardie quietly excluded the Baryulgil people from the $1.5 billion compensation deal. They were included after this was exposed. The test cases involve first seeking civil damages for non-miners, with most of the ten plaintiffs being miners’ children exposed to asbestos in their play areas and around the whole town. Having played in asbestos filled ‘sandpits’ and the like, the telltale signs of asbestos-related diseases are now proliferating throughout the community. James Hardie Industries has not made a statement.
A newly formed Aboriginal legal service has won the tender to provide legal aid services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in NSW and the ACT as of 1 July 2006. The new service is an amalgamation of six Indigenous legal services, and the merger of the organisations ensures that there is an experienced provider for legal aid, maintaining current service priorities, such as addressing Indigenous incarceration rates, and ensuring a decent level of geographical coverage is maintained.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/2006/26.html