Houston, Jacqui --- "Recent Happenings" [2005] IndigLawB 9; (2005) 6(8) Indigenous Law Bulletin 32
Recent Happenings January 2005
compiled by Jacqui Houston
1 January
Today marks the commencement of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People. In proclaiming the second Decade, the United Nations General Assembly noted the positive achievements of the first Decade but also the concerning and unstable economic and social circumstance in which many of the world’s Indigenous peoples live.
5 January
The New South Wales (‘NSW’) Land and Environment Court has found that developer, Stockland, breached planning conditions and dumped landfill on a site containing artefacts of Aboriginal significance. After hearing the matter, Justice Pain declared the construction certificate for Lot 235 of the development invalid and added that the duty of a developer ‘to comply with the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) is significant’.
7 January
The Federal Government has announced that it will provide funding to double the number of Family Violence Prevention Legal Services throughout Australia. Predominantly aimed at rural and remote areas, units should be in early operational stages by the end of March 2005. High-need service areas have been identified based on statistical data.
9 January
The Safety Beach Foreshore Landscape Committee in Victoria wants Aboriginal artefacts at a development site unearthed and housed in a museum. Bunerong Aboriginal Land Council coordinator Steve Compton spoke against the museum plan saying that removing the artefacts simply removes ‘all evidence of Aboriginal existence from the landscape.’
11 January
A representative of the Kapululangu Aboriginal Women’s Association in Western Australia has told The Age of the urgent need for funding to treat the consequences of family violence. While it was agreed that programs are needed to deal with the ‘root of the problem’, meeting the immediate need for safe houses, food, clothing and other essential items is a crucial element of lasting solutions.
13 January
The Northern Territory (‘NT’) Government has set aside $10 million to deal with petrol sniffing and has put the Volatile and Substance Abuse Prevention Bill to Parliament. If passed, subsequent legislation would empower police to search for and seize any volatile substance or inhalant based upon reasonable suspicion. The Bill does not allow sniffers to be taken into police custody unless there is no other place for them to go. Minister for Family and Community Services, Marion Scrymgour, says the Bill is about intervention rather than criminalising or ignoring the problem altogether.
15 January
SBS’ Living Black program has discussed the possibility of compensation from the Tasmanian Government to members of the stolen generations. It was reported that the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre wrote to the Premier 18-24 months ago to call on the State Government to express the apology the federal government is unable to make and to take some responsibility for the suffering experienced by so many people.
18 January
A meeting of around 200 residents of the Gordon Estate in Dubbo, NSW, has resolved to introduce night patrols by the community’s elders in a bid to curb offending behaviour. The meeting also proposed tactics such as drug rehabilitation services, a young offender halfway house and an early childhood centre. Chair of the meeting, new National Indigenous Council member Warren Mundine said that he would support mutual obligation conditions with the federal government in order to deal with the lawlessness currently within the community.
18 January
Police escorted two men into the Goondiwindi Magistrates Court, Queensland (‘Qld’), via a back door today to avoid the protesters calling for their charges to be upgraded. David and Clint Tomkins are charged with assault causing bodily harm after allegedly tying a noose around the neck of a young Aboriginal boy who they stripped and dragged along a riverbank in November 2004. Calls are for the charges to be changed to attempted murder. Both men have been granted bail and the matter has been adjourned until a committal hearing in May.
19 January
The Commonwealth Auditor-General has found that 11 government agencies, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (‘ATSIC’), breached federal investment guidelines, legislation and the Constitution over a number of years. The Auditor-General’s report found that returns on the high risk investments did not provide as high returns as acceptable investments.
20 January
The Palm Island Council in Qld is critical of the alcohol management plan which the State Government plans to introduce to the community. Council members believe the plan, presented on 19 January and open for comment until 7 February, will cause greater problems if it is introduced without the provision of support services.
21 January
The Stolen Wages Campaign Working Group in Qld has lodged a submission with the State Treasurer for funding to resource and support claimants in resolving stolen wages matters. The Government’s (‘reasonable’, according to Premier Beattie) offer of $2000 or $4000, subject to indemnifying the government from future legal action, is available to claimants until the end of 2005 only. Qld Labor’s State Platform Document for 2004 says that Labor ‘will view the existing offer as a first step to full reparation’.
24 January
The North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service has spoken out about the continuing breach of legislation by a small number of police in NT when interviewing Aboriginal people. Laws were developed in the 1970s to ensure that, when being interviewed by police, Indigenous people are made aware of their right to remain silent. Where a case includes a record of interview obtained despite communication difficulties, that interview cannot be admitted as evidence.
26 January
Michael Mansell has spoken today at the Tent Embassy in Canberra where he has said that the government needs to find an alternative to 26 January for its celebrations which are being held ‘at the expense of’ Indigenous Australians.
27 January
Two independent archaeologists have confirmed allegations that developers constructing the Wattle Point wind farm in SA have disturbed sites of Aboriginal significance. A partial Aboriginal skeleton and some artefacts have been removed and one wind turbine has been built over part of a main archaeological site.
31 January
The Crime and Misconduct Commission is in possession of video footage taken in the Palm Island police station around the time of Cameron Doomadgee’s death. Chair of Carpentaria Land Council, Brad Foster, says that a witness has told that the recorder was turned off until after Mr Doomadgee was placed in the cell. President of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry O’Gorman, has called for the allegation to have prominence in the coronial hearing.