First Nations justice
Media and commentary relating to our collaborative work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations to promote the rights of First Nations peoples.
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2SER: Celebrating Reconciliation Week and Supporting the Uluru Statement from the Heart
27 May to 3 June is National Reconciliation Week marking the twin anniversaries of the successful 1967 referendum (changing the constitution to allow government to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the census) and the Mabo case of 1992, which rejected the terra nullius argument and paved the way for Native Title. Ngemba man,…
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Over-representation of Aboriginal people in New South Wales prisons “highest on record”
The Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) (ALS) and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) have released new data showing a “growing crisis of the imprisonment of Aboriginal people” in New South Wales which the government “cannot ignore”. New figures from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) released on Tuesday show the proportion of…
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Proportion of Aboriginal inmates in NSW hit a record 29.7% in February
The proportion of Aboriginal people in prisons across New South Wales has reached a record high, prompting an urgent call from key groups for governments to end the “overpolicing” of Indigenous communities. The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Bocsar) figures revealed Aboriginal people accounted for a record 29.7% of the state’s adult prison…
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‘Growing crisis’: Record level of Aboriginal people in NSW prisons, new data reveals
The Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), are ramping up their calls for reform to the way Aboriginal people are policed, in light of new figures released by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) showing the proportion of Aboriginal people in prison is the highest on record. …
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First Nations Cadetships aim to boost Indigenous lawyer numbers
A Wiradjuri man from Cowra is one of three cadets who participated in the NSW government’s inaugural First Nations Cadetship program which has helped him launch his legal career. Oliver John Williams recently completed his cadetship at the Seniors Rights Service and is now in his fourth year of a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal…
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Paul Ramsay Foundation boosts the Raise the Age campaign
The NSW campaign to Raise the Age has received a significant boost, thanks to a generous commitment of campaigning and financial support from the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Raise the Age is a national campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years of age. The NSW campaign involves a…
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UN urges Australia to improve treatment of people in detention
A report from the UN Committee Against Torture urges government action to improve Australia’s treatment of people in police custody, prisons, youth detention centres and immigration detention. The report follows a UN subcommittee visit to review places of detention in Australia, which was dramatically suspended in October when authorities in NSW and Queensland refused to…
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Legal Centres call for all COVID fines to be cancelled, existing fines regime to be reviewed
The NSW Government’s ‘law and order’ response to the pandemic created significant fines debt and damaged community-police relations in some of the most disadvantaged parts of the state, according to a new UNSW Law School report. Click here: UNSW Report The Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), Redfern Legal Centre and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre…
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PIAC says ‘yes’ to the Voice
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre supports a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Australian Constitution. We say ‘yes’, because there is an injustice at the heart of our Constitution: its failure to recognise the first peoples of this land. It is in our power to change this. In 2017, Aboriginal and Torres Strait…
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NSW Government must commit to Aboriginal-led reform to fix a failing child protection system
The landmark, Aboriginal-led Family is Culture (FIC) Review was commissioned by the NSW Government to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children and families. It examined in detail the increasing and disproportionate number of Aboriginal children removed by the Government into out-of-home care (OOHC) and set out a clear pathway for change. But three years after the…