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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NSW petition to raise the age gets 63,000 signatures
Public Interest Advocacy Centre CEO Jonathon Hunyor said locking up children fails our community. “The verdict from medical, legal and child development experts is clear: criminalising children causes lifelong harm,” he said. In March, a NSW budget estimates hearing revealed 293 children aged between 11 and 13 had spent time in custody in 2021. More…
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2SER interview: Raise The Age
Right now, politicians are sending children as young as ten years old to be locked away in prison. PIAC is calling on MPs to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old and instead invest in solutions that work. 2SER Breakfast spoke with PIAC Solicitor and Gomeroi women, Emma Bastable about the NSW Raise the…
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The over-representation of First Nations kids in out of home care continues to rise
The rates of removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children by government agencies into out-of-home care (OOHC) nationally continues to worsen. New figures released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reveal that Indigenous children are now 11.5 times more likely to be placed in care than their non-Indigenous counterparts. This is…
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‘It wasn’t done in secret – it was in our parliaments’
When our new Prime Minister stepped up to the lectern on election night, his first pledge was, ‘I commit to the Uluru Statement from the heart in full’. It felt like a turning point in our country’s history. I have spent most of my career working on processes that sought to advance truth and accountability.…
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Facing the Truth about Indigenous Australians
The most comprehensive truth-telling project in Australian history is documenting every law and policy that has targeted or had a disproportionate impact – deliberate and accidental – on Indigenous people since 1788 commencing with NSW.
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Law faces the truth on Indigenous impact
Towards Truth’s project co-ordinator is 30-year-old lawyer Corey Smith, a Ngemba man whose work on the database helped him understand the pressures on his own great-grandmother May Biles not to be proud of her Aboriginality.
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NSW Government must back critical child-protection Bill
This week NSW MPs will have the opportunity to vote in support of critical reforms to improve the child protection system for Aboriginal children and families. After passing the Upper House in late February with the support of a broad coalition of Labor, the Greens, SFF, AJP and Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, the Children…
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Opinion: Australia must raise the age of responsibility to 14 or keep trapping children in a quicksand of criminality
Op ed by PIAC Senior Solicitor Emma Bastable, and Luke McNamara from UNSW Centre for Crime, Law & Justice.
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Politics triumphs over evidence as Attorneys General fail on raising the age
The statement by national Attorneys General to ‘support developing a proposal’ to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 is a political fudge that changes nothing and leaves children exposed to harm. Despite considering this issue for years and overwhelming evidence supporting the need to act urgently to raise the age…
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Shoebridge Bill highlights need for action to raise the age
An alliance of community, legal, and First Nations justice organisations has welcomed the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Age of Criminal Responsibility) Bill 2021, introduced to NSW Parliament this morning by David Shoebridge MLC. This Bill would raise the age of criminal responsibility in NSW to 14, creating both better outcomes for children kept out of…