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Balgi, Teena; Biaggini, Diane --- "Recent Happenings" [2000] IndigLawB 70; (2000) 5(3) Indigenous Law Bulletin 24

Recent Happenings

Compiled by Diane Biaggini and Teena Balgi.

30 August

Daryl Melham MP resigned as Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs as a result of the Federal ALP Senators allowing changes to the Queensland Native Title regime to diminish the rights of native title claimants.

31 August

The Federal Government withheld $5 million pledged to the Northern Territory for diversionary programs as an alternative to mandatory sentencing for juveniles. (See 2000 4(30) ILB 7).

3-10 September

Garma 2000 cultural festival in Gove, North East Arnhem land.

4 September

Sir Ronald Wilson, co-author of the Bringing Them Home report, is attacked by Liberal MPs during a Senate committee hearing into the Stolen Generations Report. In response, Wilson criticised the Federal Government for failing to commit sufficient funding for a more extensive inquiry into forced removals.

4 September

A mystery Federal Labor MP likened the job of Shadow Minister for the Aboriginal Affairs to being a toilet cleaner on the Titanic.

5 September

Bob McMullen, a senior ALP frontbencher, was appointed as Shadow Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Affairs, Reconciliation and the Arts.

6 September

Democrats Senator Aden Ridgeway re-issued an urgent call for the Commonwealth Parliament to act on the alarming rates of Aboriginal deaths in custody.

6-8 September

UN Millennium Summit in New York. Australia refused to sign the Optional Protocol to the Treaty on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women.

8 September

Nelson Mandela, speaking at the World Reconciliation Day concert in Melbourne, urged the Howard government to acknowledge the pain of Aboriginal people.

11 September

The inquest into the first death in custody under mandatory sentencing, that of a 15-year-old Aboriginal boy at the Don Dale Detention Centre, began before a Darwin coroner.

11 September

An estimated 10,000 S11 Alliance protestors successfully blockaded the World Economic Forum in Melbourne.

12 September

Joy Williams lost her appeal against a lower court finding that the NSW Aboriginal Welfare Board did not owe her a duty of care after she was removed from her mother’s care and placed in State care 57 years ago.

13 September

The Queensland Criminal Justice Commission launched an investigation into an incident in Brisbane in which a police officer was filmed putting his boot into the face of an Aboriginal suspect.

15 September

Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic cauldron.

18 September

The leaders of the Torres Strait Regional Authority, the Island Co-ordinating Council and the local council met to develop potential models for autonomy to present to the Torres Strait Regional Authority Board in December.

18 September

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told the UN General Assembly that Australia will spearhead a ‘high level diplomatic initiative’ to change the way the UN treaty committees operate.

21 September

Queensland Environment and Heritage Minister, Mr Rod Welford, granted freehold title of nine islands in far north Queensland to traditional owners, the Wuthathi people.

21 September

Western Australian Health Minister, John Day, announced that Western Australia will get a family tracing and counselling service for Aboriginal people affected by stolen generation policies by December, three years after the money was promised.

25 September

Cathy Freeman won an Olympic gold medal in the women’s 400m track final.

28 September

Community groups gather to remember the death of Aboriginal teenager John Pat in custody 17 years ago. His death led to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.