Indigenous lawyers and law students gathered at an important national conference recently, with some help from CLA. The range and depth of issues facing the Indigenous community was remarkable, as was the quality of the speakers, CLA President Dr Kristine Klugman reports.
Photo: CLA members Asmi Wood and Michael Brown of ANU and Nadine Frewen of UWA.
Indigenous lawyers conference shows
broad range, depth of knowledge
By CLA President, Dr Kristine Klugman
Much to learn, lots to do…this was the overwhelming take-out from the fifth national Indigenous legal conference, Legal Education: A Way Forward, held in Canberra in October 2010.
The conference bought together about 90 delegates from around Australia, and covered an ambitious range of topics. What was impressive was the range and depth of knowledge of both presenters and the participants, drawn from throughout the nation.
CLA CEO Bill Rowlings and I agreed to a request to chair sessions. We were honoured by the opportunity to assist and be involved.
The conference opened with a welcome to country and to the Australian National University in Canberra. Attorney-General Robert McClelland gave a range of statistics on government expenditure on indigenous program, including legal aid, but managed not to mention the NT Intervention in legal terms. He did specify domestic violence and alcohol reduction strategies.
The inaugural Indigenous Legal Professional of the year was awarded to Tony McAvoy, who pointed out the lack of Aboriginal legal professionals when thanking the AG. Mr McAvoy is a descendant of the Wiri people of central Queensland and has 22 years experience in native title law, criminal law, land rights legislation and human rights. He has a large pro bono practice as a barrister, and mentors Indigenous law students.
Dr Megan Davis gave the first plenary session address and pointed to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People as a powerful instrument but stressed that it needs to be implemented into the Australian legal system. The Declaration should frame discussion and be enacted into federal laws, used by courts, and even form the basis of constitutional reform. She said there is a “rights reluctance” on the part of governments but that enpowering the Declaration lies in our hands.
Dr Kerry Arabena, addressed the conference on the role of the organisation she co-chairs, the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, covering its structure and progress to date. The difficulty in creating a body to replace ATSIC which is truly representative, nationally operational and comprehensively accountable, was evident.
Parallel sessions which followed the first plenary session covered Broadening Indigenous Research and Work Possibilities – IATSIS and Aurora, International Indigenous Issues, and Indigenous Family Violence Issues. Aurora reported an impressive and mushrooming list of activities in trying to encourage young indigenous people to become professionals, including lawyers.
There is possibly a need for an organisation to advocate the rights of Indigenous women in the criminal justice system…even though males overwhelmingly predominate as ‘victims’ of police, legal and correction systems throughout Australia, and particularly in WA and the NT. Given the percentage domination of Indigenous people before the courts, it is doubtful if the funded legal services bodies are adequately resourced to fully represent women, and men. There was no reference to how the new National Congress might address this pressing issue. One particular project which seems to be effective, however, is the “Sisters Day Out” which encourages Indigenous women to have self confidence and speak out.
The second series of parallel sessions addressed the integration of Indigenous topics into the curriculum, the role of the UN special procedures in realising Indigenous rights, and
the Northern Territory intervention.
In the NT intervention session, the Manager of the Justice and Crime Analysis Program at the Australian Institute of Criminology, lawyer Laura Beacroft, gave a sobering rundown on new research into violence in Indigenous communities, which is not yet complete. Her full findings and analysis are eagerly anticipated.
In the same session, Wayne Connop’s presentation on the day-to-day reality of life, the law and the courts in the NT was darkly illuminating. Mr Connop, who knows the NT communities intimately from his early days as a plumber before becoming a lawyer with the NT Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and the Legal Service, spoke of how the NT Intervention had delivered some improvements, but many inequities. The negatives included disturbing cases of open and public discrimination against ‘card-carrying’ fellow Australians, which made them feel and act like the second-class citizens the Australian Government declared them to be by suspending the Racial Discrimination Act in the NT. During question time, his moving responses to telling questions produced some emotive silences among the large audience.
The role of UN special procedures provided an opportunity for an excellent outline of the influence – or otherwise – that ‘theoretical’ UN declarations can have in producing practical impact in nations, with the reality of funding restrictions of legal services for indigenous people on the ground. The contrast is quite stark, which emphasises the necessity of keeping political leaders accountable to their public pronouncements and promises.
Parallel sessions covered postgraduate options in employment and research, and contemporary issues in international law. Speakers were Professor Peter Veth of ANU’s National Centre for Indigenous Studies, and Louse Taylor from the ACT Department of Public Prosecutions. While there is support and encouragement for Indigenous lawyers to operate directly in Indigenous matters, it is equally important that they are adequately represent among the mainstream of Australian society, such as in universities as lecturers and in the public prosecution stream: Indigenous people need not appeal only behind the Defence bar table.
The conference dinner speaker, Associate Professor Simon Rice, gave an excellent address outlining the need to put straight legal studies into the broader social, political and economic context. He questioned fundamental principles of how society and the law think of each other, and therefore how law students and lawyers should think about their roles.
In the first Saturday plenary session, Les Malezer spoke from his extensive experience in dealing with international human rights treaty bodies advocating rights for Indigenous peoples. He addressed the question of what self determination really means and the place of minority indigenous rights in majority western democracies. He advocated a Australian treaty to protect Indigenous rights.
In the second plenary session, Supreme Court Justice Robyn Layton’s main focus was on sex offences against Aboriginal women, highlighting the difficulties in the process of giving evidence. The justice system was failing in both protecting women and in altering and punishing abusive behavior, she said. She suggested a solution might be to adapt a model used in New York which has a designated Sex Offences Court, which operates with dedicated staff and provides alternatives to gaol for offenders.
Three parallel sessions followed: Post Graduate Study and Work Options, Economic Rights and Sentencing, and the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples and the Law.
In the second of these, the process of managing a native land claim was explained in all its complexity by the Pincipal Legal Officer of the Queensland South Native Title Service, Shaz Rind. University of Canberra lecturer Anthony Hopkins addressed sentencing and Aboriginality.
In the final parallel sessions, Practicing at the Bar: an Indigenous Perspective, and Contemporary Land and Sea Issues were addressed.
In summary, the conference provided valuable information for Indigenous students in the varied possibilities of professional life which can follow a degree in law. Civil Liberties Australia was proud to have provided a small sponsorship and practical assistance.
Fifth National Indigenous Legal conference: Legal Education: A Way Forward
1-2 October 2010, ANU College of Law: further info: http://law.anu.edu.au/index.asp
Main organisers: ANU lecturer and CLA member, Asmi Wood, and doctoral candidate, Fleur Adcock, with the ANU Law events team under Christine de Bono. CLA was a junior sponsor of the conference.