Garma Festival

Speakers' Abstracts

Mr Banambi Wunungmurra
Chairperson, Miwatj Aboriginal Legal Service Council

Mr Graham Carr
Solicitor, Miwatj Aboriginal Legal Service

Top End Women's Legal Service
Community Legal Workers

Mr Eddie Cubillo
Article Clerk, North Australian Legal Aid Commission

Ms Colleen Welch
Nunga Court, Magistrates Court of South Australia

Ms Mayatili Marika

Giving evidence and court procedures
The Hon Chief Justice M E J Black AC
Chief Justice, Federal Court of Australia

Reducing arrest and imprisonment rates for Indigenous young people
Ms Christine Charles
Chief Executive, Department of Human Services, South Australia

Indigenous young people continue to experience arrest and imprisonment rates at levels that see them over-represented in the justice system. The Royal Commission Investigation into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1990) made 136 urgent recommendations and since then numerous reports and evaluations have occurred, yet not enough has changed for Indigenous people in respect to the criminal justice system.

The South Australian juvenile justice system underwent a number of changes in the early 1990’s and established a three-tiered approach to juvenile justice with the aim of diverting young people, charged with minor offences, away from the Court system. Whilst a number of positive outcomes have been achieved with this approach, such as the Family Conferencing system, continued experience tells us that Indigenous young people are still more likely to be sent to the Youth Court and to receive harsher penalties than their non-indigenous counterparts.

The United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The Riyadh Guidelines) state that every government should instigate:

Close interdisciplinary co-operation between national, state, provincial and local governments, with the involvement of the private sector representative citizens of the community to be served, and labour, child-care, health, education, social, law enforcement and judicial agencies in taking concerted action to prevent juvenile delinquency and crime.

This presentation will explore the numerous inter-related components that influence arrest and imprisonment rates for Indigenous young people. It is argued that a clearer understanding of the situation is vital if Reconciliation is to be a reality in Australia. It will also identify strengths and positive initiatives than can be built upon in seeking solutions and creating positive change.

The independent role of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Northern Territory
Mr Rex Wild QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, Northern Territory

The mission of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is to provide an independent and effective prosecution service which is fair to victims and the accused and is sensitive to the needs of victims, witnesses and to community interests.

A big percentage of the cases which the Office handle involve Aboriginal people as victims, witnesses or offenders, and it is important that it responds properly to public interest questions which may very much depend on local views.

The Office arguably has more Aboriginal stakeholders than any other organisation in the criminal justice system and is determined to provide a good service to those people. In this connection, the independence of the Office is a most important characteristic, and the Director’s functions can be carried out without political, government or interest group interference. Nevertheless, the Office is accountable to parliament, and this is a significant check on what otherwise might become arbitrary powers.

Overview of customary law
Professor Nancy Williams, University of Queensland

Recognition of customary law in Western Australian courts
Mr Ron 'Doc' Reynolds, Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia Inc.

Overview of sentencing patterns and Aboriginal imprisonment rates in Australia
Associate Professor Chris Cunneen
Director, Institute of Criminology, University of Sydney

Public Order and Anti-Social Conduct Bill
Ms Veronica McClintic, Director , North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (NAALAS)

Veronica McClintic, Solicitor and Director of North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service will discuss the impact of this Legislation upon Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. This Northern Territory Legislation was passed on 4th July 2001.

Although the Act does not specify that it is targeting Aboriginal people, the practical effect is that it will have a disproportionate impact on this sector of the community. The enforcement of the Act shall not only take away basic rights of the individual, but shall be seen by many Aboriginal people as being racist and extremely harsh. In effect, the legislation extends police powers to such an extent that it could very well lead to abuse.

Section 5, for example, states if a member of the police force has a reasonable apprehension that a person has engaged in, is engaging, or is about to engage in anti-social conduct in a public place or prescribed place; or in a private place adjacent to a public place or prescribed place that is affecting persons who are in the public place or prescribed place, the member shall direct the person to do all, or any of the following:

- to stop engaging in anti-social conduct;
- to leave the place and not return within a stated reasonable time (being not more than 72 hours);
- to move from a particular location for a stated distance, in a stated direction and not to return to, or be within the stated distance from the location for a stated reasonable time (being not more than 72 hours)

The situation of juveniles in Arnhem land and the criminal justice system.
Mr David Woodroffe, Solicitor, North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (NAALAS)

Community housing issues and the criminal justice system
Mr John Hughes, Solicitor, North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (NAALAS)

The approach and recommendations of the Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission
Mr Paul Chartrand, Commissioner, Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission, Canada

The presentation will consist of an overview of the policy recommendations of the major inquiries and commissions in Canada in the last decade, relating to the relationship between indigenous people and the criminal justice system, including the special report of the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP). The main focus will be on the approach and recommendations of the Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission (AJIC) which completed its final Report in June 2001. Paul Chartrand served as a Commissioner on both RCAP and the AJIC.

International perspective - restorative justice
Professor James Guest, University of Alberta, Canada

Victim Offender Conferencing
Mr Declan Roche, Law Program, Australian National University

Victim Offender Conferencing tries to provide a different way of doing justice. By bringing together victims, offenders, their supporters and members of the wider community, conferencing provides a forum where the people most affected by a crime can talk, and together decide how to deal with the aftermath of that crime. Conferencing is an example of a form of justice (often called 'restorative justice') that is about repairing the harm caused by crime, rather than punishing people. Harm includes not only the material harm suffered by the victims of crime, but their emotional harm, as well the harm that offenders cause themselves and their families when they commit crime. Evaluations of conferencing suggest that it can provide a form of justice that victims and offenders find fairer than court, and which may also assist in reducing re-offending.

The experiences of conferencing and other similar programs, both here and overseas, carry valuable lessons for communities interested in establishing conferencing programs. These include: the importance of local consultation and participation; the need for programs to articulate the values to which they are committed; and the importance of programs ensuring that they operate in an open and accountable manner. Experience also stresses the need to view conferencing as only one part of a broader response to crime and distress in communities, that must be linked with health, educational, welfare and employment initiatives.

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