The recent Auspoll survey showing there is deep distrust between indigenous and non-indigenous people (‘Australians united in a lack of trust’ The Age 9 Feb 09) highlights an impediment to tackling the widespread disadvantages that First Australians…
Civil Liberties Australia each year selects 2-4 topics for Australia Day, drawing the attention of people in positions of power to opportunities for change and improvement in Australian society, or to problems that need fixing. The 2009 letters cover: Es…
Neglect of social issues has swelled the number of indigenous people, particularly youth, in State jails and detention centres, former Labor Premier Peter Dowding says. The new WA Liberal Government deserves the opportunity to show it can make a differen…
Proposed amendments to the Native Title Act in Victoria are timely (‘Native title revamp for state’, The Age 6 Jan 09). This Act was from its inception flawed as it demanded that Aboriginal people demonstrate continuous connections with the land they cl…
PM Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations in part “…remove(d) a great stain from the nation’s soul…” but a shadow will remain until governments respond compassionately to the ongoing pain and hurt felt by Indigenous Australians, distinguished forme…
Barack Obama`s resounding victory is inspiring people in America and throughout the world to overcome racial discrimination by way of soul-searching and examining their deep- seated, often
sub-conscious prejudices.
In Australia we can respond by impl…
While concerns are being expressed about the plight of most Australians being adversely affected by the developing world-wide recession, the fate of 25,000 ‘out-of-sight’ citizens incarcerated in our jails should not be ‘out- of- our- minds”‘. Of special…
Do the rights of Indigenous people to traditional ceremonies on traditional lands comprise ‘property’? Two CLA members asked to appear as ‘friends of the court’ on the question as part of a High Court case involving the NT ‘intervention’ of 2007, but per…
It comes as no surprise that Civil Liberties Australia has given the Government an “inconsistent” assessment on its human rights performance (“Rudd Labor ‘inconsistent’ on human rights: report”, Canberra Times, October 4, p8).
Last week, in its respon…
The debate about whether Australia should have a national Charter of Rights and Responsibilities will launch on 10 December, international Human Rights Day. It is hoped that the Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, will throw his weight behind the program to indicat…