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Houston, Jacqui --- "Recent Happenings April 2008" [2008] IndigLawB 18; (2008) 7(4) Indigenous Law Bulletin 28

Recent Happenings April 2008

by Naomi Oreb, Natasha Naude and Jacqui Houston

1 April

The South Australian (‘SA’) Parliament has tabled the recommendations of former Supreme Court Judge Ted Mullighan following his three-year inquiry into the sexual abuse of children within state care. Mr Mullighan recommends an adaptation of the Child Protection Curriculum to suit the needs of Aboriginal children. He also supports the creation of a Minister’s Youth Council and Youth Advisory Committee with at least one Aboriginal person serving on each body.

6 April

The Bugilmah Burube Wullinje Balund-a Correctional Centre in New South Wales (‘NSW’) will open within a matter of weeks. The Centre will house up to 70 first-time Indigenous offenders aged between 18 and 30 whose crimes have not merited a prison sentence. The Centre has no walls and will be patrolled by non-uniformed guards. It will offer educational and cultural programs, facilitate meetings between prisoners and elders and target substance abuse in an attempt to reduce the number of Indigenous men in prison.

6 April

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced that the first parliamentary sitting day of each year will feature an annual report on efforts to reduce the current gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

9 April

Western Australian (‘WA’) Indigenous Affairs Minister Michelle Roberts released the Government’s response to Coroner Alistair Hope’s report on the alcohol and cannabis-related deaths of 22 Aboriginal people in custody in the Kimberley region since 2000. The Minister has rejected Mr Hope’s major recommendation of a centralised body to improve Indigenous living conditions, and failed to address his recommendation that government officials be responsible for achieving targets on improving living conditions.

9 April

The trial commenced today of a Northern Territory (‘NT’) policeman charged with three counts of aggravated assault and one of attempting to destroy evidence after allegedly kicking an Aboriginal prisoner in the head repeatedly and then trying to destroy the video evidence. The court was told Sergeant Michael Bourke allegedly instructed a junior officer to create a false record of events but the matter was reported to police ethical standards investigators and the video evidence sent to investigating detectives.

12 April

Aboriginal artist Tommy Watson has received an out-of-court settlement of more than $350,000 from Red Sands Gallery in Alice Springs, NT, in recognition that he was paid a fraction of the value of 41 paintings he sold to the gallery in 2005.

14 April

A Senate inquiry has begun to investigate a possible scheme to compensate the Stolen Generations. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (‘HREOC’) has lodged a submission to see all agencies that played a role in the removal of Indigenous children from their families contributing funds to the scheme. HREOC Social Justice Unit director Darren Dick has told the inquiry the total cost of a government-led compensation scheme would be only 0.001 per cent of GDP.

15 April

The SA Department of Environment and Heritage has called for submissions from environmental interest groups in relation to a new management plan for Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park. The plan formalises a co-management agreement with Mannum Aboriginal Community Incorporated for the protection of key Aboriginal sites within the park.

16 April

Queensland Opposition spokeswoman for child safety, Jann Stuckey, has spoken out against the provision of Implanon, a long-lasting contraceptive implant, to Aboriginal girls as young as 12 in central Queensland. She said she had heard of at least four such cases and that one girl had three sexually transmitted diseases.

17 April

The Queensland Government has today introduced the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Amendment Bill 2008 (Qld) into Parliament. The Bill allows for residential and commercial leases for periods of up to 99 years in the State’s Indigenous communities. The Government states that it intends the Bill, which reforms the Land Act 1994 (Qld), will encourage Indigenous home ownership, the creation of community infrastructure and broader economic development.

18 April

A delegation from the National Aboriginal Alliance has today headed to New York to attend the seventh session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The delegation, led by Les Malezer, plans to raise its concerns to the Permanent Forum in regard to the intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

18 April

The Commonwealth Government has today announced an extra $4.9 million as a one-off top-up of funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services. A portion of the funds will go toward infrastructure needs including air conditioning in offices in rural and remote areas. Additional funds will go to the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA which is struggling in response to demands on staff placed by the Indigenous Justice Taskforce; some funds will resource legal services to attend community courts; and $500,000 will be placed in the Expensive Indigenous Cases Fund.

19 April

The Indigenous issues group of this weekend’s 2020 Summit has listed a treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia as a priority issue. Also raised was the issue of a national representative body and a watchdog body to monitor health and other areas of disadvantage. The National Indigenous Youth Movement called for the establishment of a strong foundation in the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

23 April

The Full Bench of the Federal Court has upheld the appeal by the WA and Federal Governments against the Court’s 2006 ruling on the Noongar native title claim. While this decision does not say that native title no longer exists over the Perth metropolitan area, that ruling has been set aside. Claimants have expressed their disappointment that the decision sends them ‘back to square one’ while both governments have expressed their desire to resolve the claim through negotiation.

28 April

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has instructed her department to devise approaches to dealing with poverty among Indigenous Australians in urban centres. The Minister says that ending Indigenous disadvantage in urban areas will cover issues including education, housing and employment.


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