The Editor, The Age: Your editorial “It`s time to cut racism from the constitution” (20 Jan 2012) contains a very telling point when it asks us to consider what message would be sent to Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (and to the world) if they are not acknowledged as Australia`s first peoples and racially discriminatory measures in the constitution are not eradicated .

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Terry Briscoe died in custody in Alice Springs early in 2012. Police say he fell and hit his head, soon after dying of cardiac arrest. People arrested with him allege police officers bashed him. CLA doesn't know which is correct, but we do know that both police and the NT justice system are on trial in this case. CLA believes interstate police should be called in to assist the coroner's investigation, rather than NT police investigating their own.  Here is an open letter from the dead man's uncle to the Chief Minister of the NT.

...and NT Police Association chief Vince Kelly has penned an impassioned letter about Aborigines in the NT, in which he defends his police officers and asserts there was no bashing.

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Civil liberties and human rights often involve finely-balanced judgements. In homelessness and welfare, resources are limited so tough decisions are needed. But natural cultural restraint can cost some people much-needed help, particularly Australia's Indigenous peoples. A CLA Darwin member cites some examples.

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A man says he has been summarily dismissed, without a hearing, for describing a fellow worker as a 'black fellow'. Conflicting rights are always difficult to resolve - what do you think?

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Editor, Koori Mail: A nation, like a person, should be true to itself, if it is to earn the respect of not being false in any way, at home or abroad. For Australians, this means frankly acknowledging the harmful, discriminatory treatment of the indigenous people since our formation as a nation to the present day.

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The massively disproportionate numbers of Indigenous people, particularly the young, in jail is a 'national shame', Attorney-General Robert McClelland admitted publicly in a recent speech. He and state/territory AGs have signed off on a plan to slash the numbers, he said. CLA welcomes the public commitment, for which we have been actively campaigning for years.

Read the speech »...

A withering Ombudsman's report tabled in the NT Parliament is scathing about the recent failures of the Child Protection Agency and its master department to protect the Territory's vulnerable children. The report calls into question whether the NT public service is capable of managing its own child safeguards, or of competently delivering federal intervention programs. On the evidence of the report, the human rights of little children are much less than sacred in one-eighth of Australia.

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