Abstract: Kornelsen, Derek; Boyer, Yvonne; Lavoie, Josee; Dwyer, Judith There is growing interest among public servants, Indigenous organisations, and scholars in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in the idea of shifting from classical New Public Management accountability models to models that reflect mutual or reciprocal accountability as a means of delivering more effective and responsive health care to Indigenous communities. However, little progress has been made with respect to developing and implementing workable reciprocal accountability models. In this paper, we argue that a consideration of Indigenous perspectives on reciprocity and accountability is an essential, yet mainly overlooked, component of the development of effective and appropriate accountability models between Indigenous peoples and statebased funders. Indeed, many Indigenous peoples have long histories of engaging in reciprocity-based relationships with each other and their environments. Drawing from Indigenous knowledge in this regard offers novel insights that can inform how models of reciprocity are constructed and understood. More specifically, we argue that consideration of Indigenous perspectives on treaties and treaty-making as a way to interpret the substance of mutual roles and responsibilities enables a shift to models of reciprocal accountability that are based on the mutual building of long-term, trust-based relationships, while also providing a frame that emphasises the maintenance of the sovereignty of the entities that are party to such relationships.
Abstract: Blagg, Harry; Tulich, Tamara; Bush, Zoe After decades of neglect, attention in Australia has recently focused on the inter-generational impact of longterm alcohol use in the form of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders ('FASD'), and the lack of responsiveness of the justice system to the needs of persons with FASD. FASD is a non-diagnostic umbrella term encompassing a spectrum of disorders caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, including Foetal Alcohol Syndrome ('FAS'), Partial FAS ('pFAS') and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder. While Australian data is limited, the prevalence of FASD in Indigenous communities is indicatively greater than non- Indigenous communities. In 2015, rates of FAS/pFAS of 12 per 100 children were reported in Fitzroy Crossing in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia.4 This is the highest reported prevalence in Australia and on par with the highest rates internationally.
Abstract: Cavanagh, Vanessa; Marchetti, Elena Australian Indigenous focused cross-cultural professional development for the judiciary is an evolving area. In other professional service sectors, such as health and education, cultural safety is becoming the benchmark. However, for the Australian justice sector cultural awareness, and to a lesser extent cultural competency, dominate discussion, and cultural safety is only an emerging discourse. Most judicial officers (indeed most Australian public servants and legal practitioners) would be familiar with the concept of Indigenous cultural awareness as part of their standard professional development training, however, the significance of cultural competency, and the application of cultural safety principles are less well recognised. This paper documents the extent to which Australian judges and magistrates are trained or guided in accommodating the cultural needs of Indigenous courtroom participants. In particular, we review and critique the extent to which Indigenous specific cross-cultural education (in the form of short courses, seminars, conferences, cultural immersion tours, site visits, and as contained in bench books) is currently available for Australian judicial officers. In documenting current practice, we consider whether cultural awareness, cultural competency or cultural safety can be achieved by way of current judicial training and court practice guidelines. Taking into account the experiences of all Indigenous participants in the courtroom, as well as the fact that the over-representation of Indigenous offenders in the Australian criminal justice system continues to be a significant and complex issue, we conclude that it is necessary for judicial officers to be equipped with the capacity to ensure that their courtrooms are culturally safe when having to accommodate the needs of all Indigenous participants.
Abstract: Bartels, Lorana; Bolitho, Jane; Richards, Kelly This article presents the findings of a component of the National Assessment of Australia's Children's Courts (the 'national study'). Specifically, this article focuses on the perceptions of magistrates in the New South Wales (NSW) Children's Court ('NSWCC' or the 'Court') in relation to the issues facing Indigenous young people in the Court's criminal jurisdiction generally, and the potential of Indigenous youth courts more specifically. Part II outlines the method for the national study from which this article stems, as well as the method for the NSW component of the study. Part III provides an analysis of NSWCC magistrates' perceptions of challenges and reforms in the Court's criminal jurisdiction as they relate to Indigenous young people specifically, and discusses our analysis in light of findings from the national study from other states and territories. Finally, Part IV briefly considers the key findings of our analysis in light of the current Koori Youth Court pilot.
Abstract: Webb, Raelene '[T]he Meriam people are entitled as against the whole world to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the lands of the Murray Islands.' On 3 June 1992, with those words, it is said that the High Court freed Australia from the concept of 'terra nullius'. The decision in 'Mabo' that the common law recognised and protected Indigenous rights in land that existed at the time Britain acquired sovereignty was truly a watershed moment in Australian legal history, shaking the foundation of land law on which British claims to possession of Australia were based.
Abstract: Maxwell, Jack Customary law is an integral part of the lives and identities of Indigenous people across contemporary Australia. But its existence alongside Australian criminal law raises complex questions of law and political morality. It seems difficult to reconcile these two systems of law with the principle that all Australians stand equal before the law, and the intuition that people should not be subjected to different criminal sanctions on the basis of race or ethnicity.
Abstract: Leeson, Sjharn; Rynne, John; Smith, Catrin; Adams, Yolonda The over-representation of First Peoples, generally, and women specifically, in Australian prisons is beyond debate. However, Australia has seen a revalorisation of the prison and punitive measures like incarceration as the primary solution to social problems and social disadvantage, despite an array of abolitionist and prison rights campaigns, particularly across New South Wales and Victoria, that have impacted upon governmental and correctional penal reform policies.
Abstract: McCabe, Patrick The failure of Australian native title jurisprudence to develop any scope for the recognition of commercial native title rights has been much lamented. This article first briefly summarises that failure, and then turns to describe the Akiba litigation that culminated in the High Court's 2013 decision of 'Akiba v Commonwealth' ('Akiba HC'), and explains how that decision presents an opportunity at last to develop the jurisprudence in a direction more amenable to the recognition of commercial native title rights. I briefly note that the opportunity has not been seized in some recent native title judgments, probably because they were mostly argued prior to 'Akiba HC', before proceeding to discuss the 2014 Federal Court cases of 'Willis on behalf of the Pilki People v Western Australia' ('Pilki'), and 'BP (deceased) on behalf of the Birriliburu People v Western Australia' ('Birriliburu'), the former of which has now been upheld by the Full Court of the Federal Court. These decisions represent the first fruit of the tortuously slow development of the jurisprudence in this area. This article attempts to glean some lessons from those cases that can be applied to future claims for commercial native title rights, before finally looking to the practical ramifications of this development in the law.
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