...the Australian Legal System for the benefit of Indigenous Australians? Introduction The Indigenous Australian population consists of people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. Prior to European settlement in 1788, Australia was occupied by over 750, 000 Indigenous Australians who spoke 700 languages between them. However, the number of Indigenous people in Australia has transformed since the devastating impact the European settlers had on Australia’s indigenous Australians. They were exposed to new diseases and violent conflicts resulting in a significant number of deaths. Consequently, today Indigenous Australians make up only 2% of the entire Australian population. In 1788, the European colonists settled into Australia as James Cook enforced the doctrine of terra nullius because he believed that it was, ‘no one’s land’ during his journey around Australia in 1770. The cultures of the Indigenous Australians have changed over the past 227 years, as the European colonists of Australia caused very prompt changes to the Aboriginal society and the ways in which they lived. Whilst a number of alterations have been made to the Australian Legal System for the benefit of the Indigenous Australians, they continue to fight to have their rights documented and acknowledged by the Government and the people of Australia. This paper will evaluate the arguments for and against whether the government of Australia has made alterations...
Words: 1814 - Pages: 8
...The mabo decision was a significant event held in 1992, the mabo decision was an argument between the aboriginal and Torres strait islanders against Queensland. The argument was about the legal rights to the land of mer on the Torres strait which both Queensland government and aboriginal/Torres strait islanders believed they owned. The argument was so significant that it involved the high court of Australia to finalise the decision. Who Is Eddie Mabo and what is his perspective on the issue? Eddie mabo was a Torres strait islander, born in 1936 on the land of mer/Murry Island, located in the Torres strait. The land Eddie grew up on was controlled by Queensland government laws, and Eddie came to the realisation that the land that was lived...
Words: 412 - Pages: 2
...Australia post 1945 - Key terminology – * Assimilation Policy – official government policy which aims to integrate minority groups into the dominant culture group. This results in a loss of culture, tradition and languages. * Balance rites – Aboriginal rituals that aim to make a supernatural connection with ancestral beings from the dreaming * Crown land – Public land owned by the commonwealth of Australia and managed by Australian government * Dispossession – The forced removal of aboriginal people from their native land. * Dreaming – Aboriginal spiritual beliefs about creation and existence. The dreaming establishes the rules governing relationships between people, land and all things for Aboriginal people. It links together the past, present and future. * Freehold title – Absolute and permanent ownership of the land. * Half-castes – An offensive term referring to a person of mixed decent or ethnicity. * Land rites – Property rights pertaining to land. * Meta-temporal – the trinity of the past, present and future. * Native title – Form of land title, which recognises aboriginal people as rightful owners of their traditional land. * Protection policy – official government policy stating in the late 19th century. Removed aboriginal people from unsuitable environments and placed them under the protection of the state. * Sacred sites – Places of spiritual significance to Aboriginal people as they are connected with ancestor beings...
Words: 2188 - Pages: 9
...Walk-off The Wake Hill Walk-off was a strike by 200 Gurindji house servants, stockmen and their families at Wave Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory on August 1966. The Aboriginal pastoral workers first conveyed their misery with the poor working conditions and the disrespectful treatment. The next year the group moved to a significance place to the Gurindji people, Wattie Creek. Vincent Lingiari and Mick Rangiari asked Frank Hardy to make a sign which had the word “Gurindji” across it. This showed that their animosity was much deeper than the wages and working conditions. Despite that these people could not read, they understood the significance and power of the sign. 1967 – Referendum On the 27th of May 1967, the Holt Government approved two modifications to the Australian constitution associating to the Indigenous Australians. Australians voted to change the constitution to permit the commonwealth to construct respectful laws for the Indigenous people anywhere they lived in Australia. It also allowed them to include Aboriginal people and incorporate them in the national census. The results for the referendum vote was 94 per cent of Australians voted a strong yes, with an outstanding majority of votes in all 6...
Words: 1226 - Pages: 5
...Changing rights and freedoms and human wellbeing By Yasmin Hayward On Australia Day’s 150th anniversary, in 1938, William Cooper, a member of the Aboriginal Progressive Association, declared the day a “Day of Mourning”, alluding to the annual re-enactment of Phillip’s landing. Aboriginal people call it ‘Invasion Day’, ‘Day of Mourning’, ‘Survival Day’ or, since 2006, ‘Aboriginal Sovereignty Day’. The latter name reflects that all Aboriginal nations are sovereign and should be united in the continuous fight for their rights. Aboriginal people refused to participate in the re-enactment because it included chasing away a party of Aboriginal people. “I refuse to celebrate, and every Australia Day my heart is broken as I am reminded that in the eyes of many, I am not welcome on my own land.” —Nakkiah Lui, Aboriginal woman “We won't stop, we won't go away / We won't celebrate Invasion Day!”—Chant during protests on Australia Day 2012 “January 26th marked the beginning of the murders, the rapes and the dispossession. It is no date to celebrate”—Michael Mansell, National Aboriginal The Day of Mourning Speech. The Aboriginal perspective of Australia day was that is was not a celebration Aboriginal people but in fact a commemoration of a deep loss. The issues outlined in the Day of Mourning speeches in 1937 led by three Aboriginal men were for the Aboriginal people to be able to access the same citizenship rights as those of white-Australians. This included their land being returned...
Words: 1467 - Pages: 6
...Manufacturing * Automotive Transformation Taskforce * Small business * High Performing Workplace Index * Innovation * Clusters * Digital technology * Investment & trade * Investment & trade Building South Australia's competitive advantage and supporting new investment and export capability. More * Investment & trade news * Investment Attraction Agency * Business Missions * South Australia - China Engagement * South Australia - India Engagement * South Australia - North Atlantic Engagement * South Australia - South East Asia Engagement * Case management * Immigration * Major Developments Directory * Why South Australia * Industry Capability Network SA * Export Partnership Program * Trade * Tradestart assistance * Exporting from South Australia * Women in Global Business * Resources * Resources Supporting South Australia's reputation as a leading resource investment destination. More * Resources news * The facts * Mineral Resources * PACE * Geothermal Energy * Petroleum * SARIG * Unconventional Gas...
Words: 1479 - Pages: 6
...LEGT1710: Business and the Law Part One The Australian legal system operates under the theory that there is a separation of powers among the three divisions of government. The doctrine of the separation of powers was instigated to divide the institutions of government into three separate entities; legislative, executive and judicial. Each entity has different responsibilities; the legislative (parliament) is the supreme law-maker, and responsible for making the law. The executive (administration) administers laws made by parliament, and the judiciary, or courts, enforce and interpret the laws. As a result, the powers and functions of each branch are supposedly separate, allowing no single entity to establish complete authority, while each remain interdependent on one another. This ensures that there are checks and balances on authority, placing limits on what each institution can do, guaranteeing the prevention of absolutism or corruption and certifying the protection of individual rights. However, under the Westminster System, this separation is not in complete operation. In reality, the legislature and executive are not entirely separated. As the ministers, government departments and agencies are elected from, and consequently accountable to the parliament, there is a significant amount of interconnection between the two branches. This embodies the doctrine of responsible government; a system of government that exemplifies parliamentary accountability. Conversely, there is...
Words: 1322 - Pages: 6
...Name Course Instructor Date of Submission The Great Divide Indigenous Health and Federal Government Policy Closing the Gap The ‘closing the gap’ is a strategy whose aims are to give a boost to the indigenous people life expectancy rates. This policy was made in reference to the sensitive areas of child mortality, life expectancy, early childhood education, achievements in education and the employment opportunities of the indigenous communities of Australia. It was endorsed by the Australian government in 2008 to close the formal gap between the indigenous communities of Australia and the ‘white’ communities and bring a sense of social justice to all communities in Australia; most especially boost the health system of the indigenous. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG), in the Closing the Gap initiative has set certain targets that seek to improve the healthcare system of the indigenous population. The targets of the ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative include: education, economic participation, early childhood, housing, health and remote service delivery. The subsequent achievement of this particular set system to cope with the problems facing the indigenous will hugely depend on an effective implementation of the set policy targets. This is because the set targets are as of today some of the common disadvantages that the indigenous people face (Ryan 2009). The government clearly understands the enormous task that faces...
Words: 2242 - Pages: 9
... which occurred from 1939-1945, Indigenous Recognition has been one of the rapidly changing important issues in Australian society. Although there has been a shift towards recognition, which has helped to shape this nation into a more diverse and accepting nation, we have still not come far enough to Recognition. Indigenous Recognition is defined as having a voice to parliament, treaties and truth telling in history. Before WW2, Indigenous people were not spoken about, their recognition was minimal, and most Australians did not fully understand the horrific events they had endured. Our contemporary nation has...
Words: 1371 - Pages: 6
...Noel Pearson's eulogy for Gough Whitlam (http://www.smh.com.au/comment/noel-pearsons-eulogy-for-gough-whitlam-in-full-20141105-11haeu.html) Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. He was the Leader of the Labor Party from 1967 to 1977. Noel Pearson is an Aboriginal Australian lawyer, academic and land rights activist. Since the end of the 1990s his focus has encompassed a range of issues: he has strongly argued that Indigenous policy needs to change direction, notably in relation to welfare, substance abuse, child protection, education and economic development. Why Noel Pearson personally is grateful to Gough Whitlam “In June 1975, the Whitlam government enacted the Aboriginal and Torres...
Words: 765 - Pages: 4
...difficult to disagree that for one of the smaller representing populations in Australia, Indigenous Australians are at disadvantage in many areas. Areas ranging from employment, housing, justice and education among many more. There have been innumerable efforts at overcoming the disadvantages Aboriginal people have to face. For the purposes of this Essay, literature will be discussed in addressing the social inequality and disadvantage of indigenous people in relation to refining the gap in life expectancy (as a social-economic indicator) and what essential elements need to be considered for the process to work successfully. There are contending ideas in relevant literature as to what is the cause for the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, which also gives dissimilar arguments as to how to address the issue, with one side taking a view of longevity and the other a holistic method. It is argued that Indigenous Australians health inequalities could be narrowed with the improvement of the differences in health service access, provision and use. As the inabilities gain adequate health care due to, distance, cultural and availability barriers, thus leading to indigenous health problems being constant and prolonged (Healey 2002). However Eades of the of the Indigenous health research unit (2000, p.468) argues ‘that a complete tactic to improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders involves understanding the close relationships between...
Words: 1446 - Pages: 6
...the family, and input from the physician, allied health specialists, mental health professionals and community services.1 Differences and Reasons for Differences: In terms of availability general practice in Australia seems to be readily available to the populace as 90% of the Australian population visited a GP at least once in the 2004-2005 year period.2 However, for Indigenous Australians availability and affordability continue to be barriers to appropriate and effective health care.3 Due to lower...
Words: 1759 - Pages: 8
...essay intends to focus on the over-representation of indigenous people in the criminal justice system from a sociological viewpoint. This over-representation becomes sociologically significant when it is seen as an expression of inequality meaning that wider social issues are at play that effect indigenous people specifically. The two major reasons or drivers of this over-representation stem from this inequality; the first is an element of institutional discrimination found in both the courts and the police services in Australia which tend to target indigenous people disproportionately with the facilitation of legislation and practices which indigenous people have little to no involvement in formulating. The second is a set of cultural and social norms that exist amongst indigenous people which clash with the norms of the dominant white culture who are responsible for the laws and regulations that all groups in society are meant to abide by. Furthermore social conflict theories on crime such as those formulated by Turk and Sellin provide a rich theoretical support for the reasons behind the over-representation of indigenous people in the criminal justice system. The over-representation of aboriginal people in Australia is a perfect example of the effects of inequality in modern society, arising from clashing cultural norms and institutional discrimination found within the criminal justice system caused by said inequality social conflict theories are...
Words: 2420 - Pages: 10
...Indigenous Australians marginalized in today’s society Introduction Archaeologists believe that aboriginals first came to Australia about 45, 000 years ago and were the only population of humans in Australia until the British invasion. There are about 500 different aboriginal groups each with their own language and territory and usually made up of several separate clans. The aboriginals of Australia are marginalised in today society. This marginalisation began right back during the British invasion where they were evicted from their own country, the stolen generation occurred and their health care, education, employment and housing was severely limited. Aboriginals generally live in poor conditions and choose unhealthy lifestyle choices they also make up a disproportionate section in the prison population; this continues the negative attitudes that society has towards aboriginals today. History Aboriginals trace their creation back to the dreamtime, an era long past when they believe the earth was first formed by creatures. The dreamtime theory was that these creatures started human society and made all natural things and put them in special places. An aboriginal man once said “Aboriginals have a special connection with everything that is natural. Aboriginals see themselves as part of nature … All things on earth we see as part human. It is true that people who belong to a particular area are really part of that area and if that area is destroyed they are also destroyed...
Words: 1014 - Pages: 5
...achieve a beneficial outcome and/or a greater understanding of a particular issue. In this instance the concepts of systems thinking and corporate governance can be applied to develop a system under which the Aboriginal people are able to become economically sustainable in their own right rather than having to rely on the Australian Government. Article Outline Robson’s article, published May 18 2013 details the development of the relationship between Warren Mundine, a senior Aboriginal leader and political activist and Tony Abbott, then Aboriginal affairs spokesperson for the Coalition. The article details how Mundine, a staunch Labor party supporter developed a prosperous and beneficial relationship with Tony Abbott during the period dated from 2008. Being of different political associations, Mundine believed that they would have little in common. However, over time and the development of a relationship between himself and Abbott, many meaningful conversations have been had with the intention of improving the standard of living for Aboriginal people, including education, health care and wealth. Mundine’s experiences in private industries, serving on corporate boards and working with mining companies as well as closely studying the developing prosperity of nations such as South Korea and Turkey enabled him to determine that development was key to ensuring the prosperity and autonomy of the Aboriginal people....
Words: 2025 - Pages: 9
