The Australian legal system has not given the first land owners fair and just human rights but recently Indigenous Australian customary laws have started to be acknowledged. When the British Empire colonised Australia, the sovereignty of Native Australians were not recognised (Mabo v Queensland [1992]). Along with land rights, their right to hunt and fish have also been restricted which could account for the overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in prison. “[Their] right to pursue a traditional lifestyle, a right recognised by the Commission’s Term of Reference, [which] implies a right to use the land to forage and gather food for consumption,” (Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Laws, 1986) has been overlooked. Aboriginal Australians …show more content…
In Indigenous Australian culture hunting and fishing are a necessity to survive and a way for men to show their position and authority within the tribe. Unlike Anglo-Australians, the native Australians had strict laws relating to who, when and how people were allowed to gather food. An example of this is at Mornington Island where the community wished to punish people for breaches of these rules. Some of these were that a person cannot eat an animal, fruit or vegetable of their own totem and that young or pregnant women must eat the food as instructed by their elders (Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Laws, 1986). Between 1867 and 1900, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia …show more content…
Article 25 states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food...” (United Nations, 1948). Firstly the Anglo-Australians took away the Indigenous rights to hunt and fish and now they will not put forward the amendment to the Fisheries Management Act. It is evident that the law has tried to address Indigenous human rights but in regards to fishing there has been no major amendments or changes within the legislation. There is definitely more improvement for the legal system to accommodate Indigenous Australian customary