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The Department of Community Services is undertaking a review of the Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987 (NSW) and Regulations. The Review Project Team are currently researching and gathering material to help them develop a set of Issues Papers on the above Act. The Issues Papers are intended to stimulate discussion in the community and help identify any necessary legal reforms.
The Review's Advisory Reference Group was recently seeking input from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations likely to have interests in the area of reform. Critical areas of concern that should be dealt with at the Issues Papers stage are being widely solicited.
If you have particular concerns regarding the review of the Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987, write, or send audio tape submissions, faxes or diskettes to:
Legislation Review Project Team
Locked Mail Bag 28
ASHFIELD NSW 2131
Fax: (02) 261 4218
In Adelaide on 9 August 1995, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) officially opened the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families.
According to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Robert Tickner, the Inquiry is 'an important step forward for Australia in coming to terms with its own history and is, therefore, an important contribution to the reconciliation process'.
The Inquiry comes after long-standing calls for justice from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and especially, according to Minister Tickner, from 'child care and link-up organisations who have been working to restore family contacts on behalf of people affected by the past policies of separation'.
The impact of child removal policies across Australia, according to Tickner, is 'one of the most persistent human rights issues" he has encountered while Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, and one that "would not, and will not, go away'.
The importance of the issue of child removal was illustrated by the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody, which found that 43 of the 99 people whose deaths were investigated had suffered childhood separation from their natural families through State and institutional intervention.
First announced in the justice Statement by the Attorney-General, Michael Lavarch, the Inquiry's terms of reference have been extended to include the principles of compensation for people or co minuni ties affected by removal policies.
The Terms of Reference of the Inquiry were published in the June 1995 issue of the AboriginalLB (see Vol 3, 74 AboriginalLB 3).
The Launch was attended by Minister Tickner, the President of HREOC, Sir Ronald Wilson, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Dodson, Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Chairperson, Pat Dodson, NSW Co-ordinator of Link-Up, Carol Kendall, and the Chairperson of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, Brian Butler.]
The NSW Law Reform Commission has been charged with inquiring into and reporting on the laws relating to sentencing in NSW, with particular regard to the following Terms of Reference:
(i) The formulation of principles and guidelines for sentencing
(ii) The rationalisation and consolidation of current sentencing provisions;
(iii) The adequacy and use of existing non-custodial sentencing options with particular reference to home detention and periodic detention;
(iv) The adequacy of existing procedures for the release of prisoners by the Offenders Review Board and the Serious Offenders Review Council, and the benefits that might accrue from the review of the decisions of the above by Judicial officers; and
(v) Any related matter.
The Commission is seeking input from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.
Preliminary comments arising from the consultation process are due to be published in the latter half of 1995, and a Commission report is anticipated to be completed by mid-1996.
Correspondence on the Terms of Reference or other aspects of the review should be sent to:
NSW Law Reform Commission
GPO Box 5199
SYDNEY NSW 2001
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Michael Dodson, is making an annual report to the Conmronwealth Government on the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), focusing on the claims experience, mediation, proof, regional agreements, and future act procedures and rights to negotiate.
Submissions are invited from members of the public, community organisations, industry and governments for consideration during the reporting process, and covering the period 1 July 1994 to 30 June 1995.
Write to: Michael Dodson
c/o-Native Title Unit HREOC
GPO Box 5218 SYDNEY NSW 2001
or Fax: (02) 284 9715
The special thematic issue (1993) of the University of NSW Law Journal "Indigenous Peoples: Issues for the Nineties" is (still) available at a discounted price of $20 from:
UNSW Law Journal
Faculty of Law
University of NSW
SYDNEY NSW 2052
Contributors include Patrick Dodson, Garth Nettheim, Henry Reynolds, Greg Maclntyre, Frank Brennan and Hal Wootten, writing on a range of issues from the High Court's Mabo (No.2) decision to self-determination.
It was a first priority of those involved in the establishment of the Aboriginal Law Centre in 1981 to appoint a Director on a full-time, or, if need be, a part-time basis. Professor Garth Nettheim has served as Chair and as Acting Director for most of this period. Attempts to secure funding for a Director have not been successful except for short periods of time. The lack of a Director has prevented the Centre from developing its full potential.
In recent years, that potential has increased enormously, especially since the 1992 Mabo (No. 2) decision. So has the actual work of the Centre. To complement the long-established Aboriginal Law Bulletin, the Centre is about to launch the Australian Indigenous Law Reporter (AILR) on a quarterly basis. It has even been producing a cultural awareness video for pre-professional training for lawyers. The task of Director is already a full-time task. It cannot be combined with another full-time job.
For these reasons, Garth Nettheim has indicated that he will not be available to serve as Director after the end of 1995, though lie is willing to continue as a member of the Management Committee. Concerted attempts will be made before then to attract funding to employ a Director to manage the Centre's activities on a day-to-day basis. If these attempts are unsuccessful, Centre projects may need to be scaled down or assigned to other bodies.
Heidi Libesman, editor since February 1995 of the Aboriginal Law Bulletin, has left her position to pursue a postgraduate scholarship in Canada.
Heidi's high level of interest in the issues covered by the AboriginalLB, and her commitment to fairness, have made her a valuable contributor to AboriginalLB editorial policy and practice as well as a delight to work with.
Newly on board is Joanne Murphy, a final year law student helping to continue the AboriginalLB's commitment to following legal issues of vital importance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLawB/1995/43.html