Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Only Victoria has established a permanent mechanism for ongoing consultation at the State level. In Tasmania, according to the former Police Commissioner, 'management has met with Aboriginal spokespersons as and when problems have been identified', but this can mean little or nothing in the face of denials that problems exist.
The Victorian Aboriginal/Police Liaison Committee was established in 1983 to act as a mechanism for improving understanding between the police and Aboriginals, and also as a practical forum in which solutions to specific problems could be formulated. The Committee originally comprised ten members - five police and five Aboriginal. In 1990 the membership was expanded to twenty-four and constituted in a way that took into account new Police District boundaries and the regional boundaries of State-wide Aboriginal organisations. From each of nine geographical areas there is one Aboriginal and one police member, and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) and the Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Incorporated (VACSAI) are represented on the Committee as are the two people attached to the Victorian Police/Aboriginal Liaison Unit. There are two Co-chairpersons, one Aboriginal and one police, and each member of the Committee has a nominated deputy.
The purpose of the Committee is 'to initiate, plan, develop and implement programs that will improve Koori/Police Relations'. Its objectives are:
'(a) To establish policies in connection with Aboriginal/Police relations.
(b) To co-ordinate the development of Aboriginal/Police liaison committees throughout Victoria.
(c) To advise Aboriginal/Police liaison committees throughout the State of policies and agreements which have been made at State level.
(d) To consider and attempt to resolve problems referred to it by Aboriginal/Police liaison committees throughout the State.
(e) To consider and implement initiatives in order to resolve problems affecting Aboriginal/Police relations.
(f) To consider ways and implement action designed to improve communication and facilitate understanding between Aborigines and Police'.
The Committee's current activities include the establishment of a comprehensive networking system between Aboriginals and police throughout Victoria, publicising the work of the Committee, maintaining and establishing local Aboriginal/Police Liaison Committees, encouraging Aboriginals to consider the Police Force as a career and 'ensuring continual progress is made in the production of programs to train and develop both Aboriginal and Police persons in understanding the respective role and history of each other'.
Funds to cover the expenses of the Committee including travel to meetings, are provided by the Government through the Ministry for Police and Emergency Services. The Committee meets every second month at different venues throughout the State. The intention is that after each meeting the local Aboriginal communities and police personnel have access to the members to canvass relevant local issues. However members of the Bairnsdale community complained to the Commission's Aboriginal Issues Unit that, when the Committee was to meet in their area, their suggestion that the meeting be held at Bairnsdale where the local community would have access was ignored, and instead it was held twenty kilometres from Bairnsdale, which effectively excluded any local Koori input. The Committee was regarded as an organisation controlled by the Police, who organised the agenda, the venue and took the minutes. It was not seen as a neutral forum, indeed it was suspected that police tried to get information from these meetings, either directly or indirectly, in relation to Koori offenders. I have no doubt that this is all quite contrary to the intentions of those who work with the Committee, but it shows how far the Committee has to go in establishing its credentials with the Aboriginal community.