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THE RECOGNITION OF ABORIGINAL CUSTOMARY LAWS - 729. Effect of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975 (Cth).
The operation of the Aboriginal courts has been affected by a number of Commonwealth Acts, the most important being the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975 (Cth). This Act, the preamble to which states that it was passed for the 'purposes of preventing Discrimination in certain respects against those Peoples [Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders] under laws of Queensland', overrode the then Queensland legislation in a number of important ways. Its effect was to impose certain limitations on the scope of the Queensland Act, regulations and by-laws with respect to:

· the management of an Aborigine or Islander's property (s5);

· the permit system for entering, residing or visiting an Aboriginal reserve (s6);

· penalties imposed on an Aborigine under a law relating to a reserve, including the power of ejectment (s7);

· entry to premises on a reserve (s8);

· legal representation before Aboriginal courts and rights of appeal (s9);

· the power to direct a person to perform certain work on a reserve (s10);

· the terms and conditions of employment of Aborigines and Islanders on reserves (sll).

It appears that in practice the Commonwealth legislation was largely ignored. In any event its provisions were gradually overtaken by changes brought about by Queensland legislation. One important provision of the Commonwealth legislation which is still applicable, however, is the right to legal representation (s9). The new Queensland legislation does not spell out such a right, and some Aboriginal courts have been reluctant to allow legal representatives to appear. [151]


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