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This Statement aims to improve access to justice for all Australians. The
Government is committed to delivering its services on a basis of equality,
without discrimination based on factors such as language or cultural
background. Services need to be provided in a way that is appropriate to the
needs and characteristics of the people who will be using them and so that they
provide equal access.
The measures in this Statement have been developed with careful attention to
those commitments.
This chapter draws together the range of initiatives in the Justice Statement
that are particularly oriented to meeting the legal needs of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples and people of non-English-speaking backgrounds.
They include:
- professional development programs for courts and tribunals on
cross-cultural awareness issues
- funding for Commonwealth courts to expand their services and to make the
provision of services more culturally appropriate
- increased training for legal interpreters
- reforms to the legal aid system to increase access and equity in the
delivery of legal aid
- funding for women's legal centres to develop appropriate services for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and women of non-English-speaking
backgrounds, and
- assisting a range of community service providers to make their services
more appropriate and accessible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples and people of non-English-speaking backgrounds.
This Statement
builds on the Government's commitment, since coming into office, to making the
law and the processes of government accessible to all Australians. The
Government acknowledges that there are a number of people in our society who
may face particular difficulties in gaining access to justice for a range of
reasons, including cultural differences, communication problems and
difficulties in obtaining information.
Two groups of Australians who face specific difficulties in accessing the law
are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and people of
non-English-speaking backgrounds. Many of the initiatives discussed in this
Statement have particular importance for these two groups. Two reports to the
Government have also made specific recommendations on ways to further improve
access to justice for such people - the Australian Law Reform Commission
report, Multiculturalism and the Law, and the Administrative Review
Council report, Access to Administrative Review by Australia's Ethnic
Communities. The Government's response to those reports is also reflected
in the initiatives in this Statement.
The Government is involved in the provision of legal services in a number of
ways. We provide some services directly and also fund other organisations that
offer legal and associated services, such as community legal centres and family
services agencies. The Government is responsible for the laws that form our
society's regulatory framework. Policies that encourage the resolution of
disputes by other than purely legal means also form an important part of our
involvement in the justice system. In all of these areas, we are mindful of
ensuring fair and equitable access.
The Government initiated an access and equity strategy in 1985 to meet the
needs of immigrants of non-English-speaking backgrounds. The strategy has since
been expanded to include all residents of Australia who may face barriers in
gaining access to community resources because of their race, religion, culture
or language. Under the strategy, Government departments have implemented a
range of measures including cross-cultural training, collection and use of
ethnicity data, consultation with client groups on design of programs, market
research and consequent delivery of appropriately designed services.
An important component of the Government's access and equity strategy is
community education about the services provided by government agencies. A
number of departments are making use of innovative techniques and marketing
principles so that community education programs about their services are
tailored to suit the needs of the whole community. The following examples
illustrate how Government departments are addressing the needs of
non-English-speaking people in our communities.
The Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs has implemented a strategy to
educate the community about portfolio legislation and, in particular, changes
to be made to legislation. Information is translated into community languages
where appropriate and methods of delivery include:
- use of video presentations and posters
- use of `Fact Sheets' (written in plain language) to provide written
details, often focusing on the legislative criteria and procedural matters, and
- briefings of relevant parties including ethnic community representatives,
the ethnic media and migration agents.
Most recently, the Department's
information strategy has been used to advise clients and others about changes
to migration law brought about by the Migration Reform Act 1992, which
came into force in September 1994. Over 3,600 people attended community
briefing sessions.
Information about review rights to the Migration Internal Review Office, the
Immigration Review Tribunal and the Refugee Review Tribunal is also distributed
to the community by way of leaflets and community briefings. Where a Tribunal
decision is reviewable, a leaflet about the review process is provided to the
client with the notification of the decision. Further, the Immigration Review
Tribunal holds preliminary meetings with applicants to discuss the review
process where appropriate.
The Department of Employment, Education and Training has recently established
Migrant Liaison Officers in the Commonwealth Employment Service Network. These
officers will be sensitive to the needs of local communities and will aim to
develop closer links between local communities and the Commonwealth Employment
Service. They will provide information to local communities on access to
services.
The Administrative Review Council report, Access to Administrative Review by
Australia's Ethnic Communities, noted a need for further assistance to
Australia's ethnic communities to increase their understanding of the
administrative review system. That system provides people with access to
government information and allows them to challenge decisions that affect their
interests. In response to the Council's report, Government agencies will
introduce a number of further initiatives to meet this goal.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal will employ a Community
Awareness Officer as part of an ongoing community awareness strategy, to inform
ethnic communities about the Tribunal's role and functions.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal will conduct a review of agencies'
correspondence to determine whether letters to clients, informing them of their
appeal rights, are appropriate.
The Social Security Appeals Tribunal will develop a model to identify
which groups of people are under-represented in seeking review of Social
Security decisions. Community education and awareness programs will then be
developed more effectively for those groups.
A number of Government agencies, which do not already do so, will include
details of how information can be translated when advising clients of their
review rights.
The Government funds the community sector to provide services across a broad
range of areas. We are mindful of the need to ensure that the services provided
by the community sector are accessible by all Australians. To this end, the
community sector programs funded under this Statement will be resourced for the
development of appropriate programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples and people of non-English speaking backgrounds.
The Financial Counselling Program provides an example of how government-funded
community services can ensure that their services are accessible to the whole
community. Financial counselling services provide specialist financial advice
and education services to people facing financial crisis has a pivotal role to
play in assisting all Australians on low to middle incomes.
Some 30 services funded by the Commonwealth assist the range of different
cultures and communities that make up Australian society. For example, among
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, financial problems are often not
just individual problems, but affect an extended family or a whole community.
This is especially so where it is common practice for a community to `pool'
available funds and debts. Some financial counselling agencies employ people
skilled in assisting those communities with financial management.
Other services cater for people from non-English-speaking backgrounds, who can
be particularly vulnerable to bad practices if their English language skills
are weak or their knowledge of government and community services is poor.
Commonwealth-funded services have, for example, often helped people who have
been victims of unscrupulous credit practices because they found it difficult
to access mainstream services. Agencies in areas like Wollongong, Eastwood and
Campbelltown in New South Wales and in inner Melbourne in Victoria are
increasingly assisting people from non-English speaking backgrounds.
However, existing services that are able to meet the language and cultural
needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-English-speaking
background clients are relatively small in number and face a high demand.
The Government has responded to this need. This Statement provides additional
funding for the Commonwealth Financial Counselling Program.[1] Special emphasis
is to be given to setting up new services and expanding existing services to
assist those communities that are physically or culturally isolated and face
unique financial problems and language difficulties.
This funding will expand access to many communities in areas where support is
most needed.
The Government believes that legislative reforms will not only assist
individuals seeking redress, but will also have a long-term impact on community
beliefs and expectations about people from different cultural backgrounds. In
the same way that legislative measures addressing equality for women have
assisted in leading to changed perceptions about the role of women in our
society, so too can legislative measures aimed at ensuring equality for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people of non-English-speaking
backgrounds.
A number of reports to the government in recent years have highlighted the
problems of racism and racist violence. The Law Reform Commission[2] and the
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission[3] have both drawn attention to
the pervasive nature of the problem and its damaging effects on individuals who
are the targets of racist attacks as well as on social cohesion for the whole
community.
In response to those reports and to community concern about racism, the
Government has developed racial hatred legislation. The Racial Hatred Bill 1994
was developed after consultation with the Australian community. The
legislation, which is currently awaiting debate in the Senate, addresses
circumstances which precede actual violence and will create a Commonwealth
criminal offence of threatening to cause physical harm to people or to damage
their property because of their race, colour or national or ethnic origin. The
actual causing of physical harm to people or property is adequately covered by
the laws of the States and Territories.
The Bill will also create a criminal offence of intentionally inciting racial
hatred in circumstances where incitement is a reasonably likely outcome. In
addition, the Bill will provide for a civil prohibition on acts that are
reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate people because of
their race, colour or national or ethnic origin.
There are however important exceptions to the latter provision which, among
other things, will allow the media, reasonably and in good faith, to make or
publish a fair and accurate report of any matter of public interest, or a fair
comment on any event or matter in the public interest providing that comment is
an expression of a genuine belief held by the commentator.
The Crimes Act contains a list of factors that are to be considered when a
court makes a sentencing decision. The Act was amended to include `cultural
background' in this list by the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment Act
1994. This section came into force on 16 January 1995. Under the common
law, cultural background could, when relevant, always be considered during
sentencing. The express inclusion of `cultural background' in the Crimes Act
will mean that this factor must be considered when it is relevant and will
encourage consistency of approach by the courts.
The Family Law Reform Bill 1994 makes provision for a number of factors to be
taken into account in determining what is in the best interests of the child
concerned in family law cases. The Bill provides, among other factors, that a
child's maturity, sex and background and any other characteristics that the
Court thinks are relevant may be taken into account in the decision-making
process. This will ensure that the desirability of a child maintaining his or
her links with the culture of each of the child's parents, and with other
persons with whom the child has a relationship, can be considered. In addition,
the Government proposes that the legislation should include specific reference
to consideration of any need to maintain a connection with the lifestyle,
culture or traditions of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders.
This Statement includes a number of initiatives that will expand on the
Government's commitment to increase access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people. These include:
- funding for the development of professional development programs for
Family Court judges, Administrative Appeals Tribunal members, and court and
tribunal staff, on cross cultural awareness and the issues facing Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- funding for the Family Court to:
- extend its circuit court services in the Northern Territory
- introduce a permanent counselling service at Alice Springs with
responsibility for all clients in central Australia but particularly designed
to be sensitive to the cultural issues affecting the local indigenous population
- establish a visiting counselling service to Cape York and the Torres
Strait Islands, and
- create Family Consultant positions at Alice Springs, Darwin, and two
Queensland locations to provide access to local indigenous communities
- resourcing the Federal Court for the re-design and refurbishment of a
Darwin courtroom to make it more suitable for use by Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people
- establishing interpreter training programs in Aboriginal languages
- developing and refining course materials and community education programs
to enable interpreter training to be progressively spread through Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Communities
- introducing reforms in legal aid at a national level to ensure increased
access and equity in the legal aid system, including for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples
- funding women's legal centres to enable the establishment of outreach
units to address some specific legal needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander women, who face multiple disadvantages, including discrimination on
the basis of their gender and as a result of their cultural background
- establishing a national outreach and development fund as part of the
National Women's Justice Strategy which will, amongst other things, address the
development and delivery of services that are appropriate to the needs of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
- assisting financial counselling agencies to make their services more
appropriate and accessible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- providing additional resources to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission to conduct a national inquiry into the impact on Aboriginal peoples'
human rights of past and present practices concerning Aboriginal children and
families
- providing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner with
additional resources to properly carry out his statutory functions, and
- establishing a National Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee.
This Statement includes a number of initiatives that will expand on the
Government's commitment to increase access to justice for people from
non-English-speaking backgrounds. These include:
- funding for the development of professional development programs for
Family Court Judges, Administrative Appeals Tribunal members, and court and
tribunal staff, which will include issues of cross cultural awareness and
training in the use of interpreters
- conducting detailed research on the disadvantages faced by people of
non-English speaking background in the justice system, focusing on determining
levels of unmet demand and on developing strategies to increase awareness of,
and access to, interpreting services by people of non-English speaking
backgrounds
- introducing reforms in legal aid at a national level to ensure increased
access and equity in the legal aid system, including for people of
non-English-speaking backgrounds
- funding women's legal centres to develop appropriate forms of assistance
for women of non-English-speaking backgrounds, including the development of
information resources which will, where appropriate, be translated into
community languages
- establishing a national outreach and development fund as part of the
National Women's Justice Strategy which will, among other things, address the
development and delivery of services that are appropriate to the needs of women
of non-English-speaking backgrounds, and
- assisting financial counselling, marriage guidance and other relationship
support agencies to make their services more appropriate and accessible to
families of non-English-speaking backgrounds.
These initiatives will ensure that access to justice is improved for
all Australians, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and
people of non-English-speaking backgrounds. They will increase the ability of
such people to access our courts and tribunals and to receive services from a
range of community support agencies that have been designed to appropriately
address their needs.
Endnotes
[1] See `Families'
[2] Multiculturalism and the Law
[3] National Inquiry into Racist Violence
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Modification Date: Wednesday, 24 May 1995