Newsletter date: 10 November 2013
Contents:
* NAAJA - North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency: Indigenous Legal Professional of the Year - David Woodroffe
* Lawyers Weekly: Inspirational indigenous lawyers honoured
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Compensation calls for the family of John Pat, and other deaths in custody
* NAAJA - North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency: Alcohol Protection Orders: a bad law that won't work
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: The last day of Peter Clarke
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Anthony Axtell and Peter Clarke should never have been shackled
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Kwementyaye, catalyst for change
* Antony Loewenstein: Australia’s treatment of indigenous population akin to apartheid
* Background to Justice Reinvestment, Aboriginal imprisonment and Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
* Background to the justice for Kumentjaye Briscoe campaign
* NAAJA - NORTH AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL JUSTICE AGENCY: INDIGENOUS LEGAL PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR - DAVID WOODROFFE
- Media Release
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency Ltd: Indigenous Legal Professional of the Year - David Woodroffe
http://www.naaja.org.au/index.php/component/attachments/download/138.html
http://www.naaja.org.au/index.php/news/media-releases.html
28 Oct 13: "The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) is very proud to congratulate David Woodroffe upon receiving the 2013 Indigenous Legal Professional of the Year Award, a national award from the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department.
David is the Manager of NAAJA’s Darwin Criminal Section, the largest and busiest criminal law practice in the Northern Territory.
David is descended from the Jingilli Modburra clan group whose traditional lands are at Newcastle Waters 300 kilometres south of Katherine.
David commenced studying a Bachelor of Laws in 1994 at the Northern Territory University. Of his decision to study law, David says: ‘I wanted to study law for my family, so that in some way I could
ensure that injustices such as the Stolen Generation would never happen to Aboriginal people and my family again’. ... "
* LAWYERS WEEKLY: INSPIRATIONAL INDIGENOUS LAWYERS HONOURED
- News
Lawyers Weekly: Inspirational indigenous lawyers honoured
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/wig-chamber/news/inspirational-indigenou...
30 Aug 13: " The manager of the largest criminal law practice in the Northern Territory has been named Indigenous Lawyer of the Year for 2013. David Woodroffe accepted the award at the National Indigenous Legal Conference Ball last Saturday night (26 October). The managing solicitor for the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) has spent around 14 years in a variety of Aboriginal legal agencies in the Territory. Woodroffe is also a former member of the Law Council of Australia (LCA) Indigenous Legal Issues Committee. ... "
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: COMPENSATION CALLS FOR THE FAMILY OF JOHN PAT, AND OTHER DEATHS IN CUSTODY
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: Compensation calls for the family of John Pat, and other deaths in custody
http://thestringer.com.au/compensation-calls-for-the-family-of-john-pat-...
2 Nov 13: "Social justice rights advocates are calling for compensation payments to be made to the families of deaths in custody victims – for the loss of a loved one, but also as a mechanism to bring about a reduction of deaths in custody. A call for a compensation payment has gone out for the family of John Pat after the Western Australian Government recently passed a motion apologising to the Pat family for the death of the 16 year old in 1983. Many have said an apology is not enough. Perth Uniting Church social justice campaigner Rosemary Hudson-Miller said that an ex-gratia payment should be made to the family of John Pat." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
* NAAJA - NORTH AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL JUSTICE AGENCY: ALCOHOL PROTECTION ORDERS: A BAD LAW THAT WON'T WORK
- Media Release
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency Ltd: Alcohol Protection Orders: a bad law that won’t work
http://www.naaja.org.au/index.php/component/attachments/download/143.html
http://www.naaja.org.au/index.php/news/media-releases.html
6 Nov 13: "NAAJA calls on the NT Government to shelve its plans for Alcohol Protection Orders (APO’s) and work with stakeholders to get alcohol policy right in the Territory.
The Alcohol Protection Orders Bill was introduced in the October sittings of Parliament. The Bill gives police the power to ban people from drinking if they have charged them with an
offence committed when they were ‘affected by alcohol’. It will be a criminal offence for people on an order to drink alcohol.
‘This is a bad law that won’t work’ said Jonathon Hunyor, Principal Legal Officer of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency.
‘Nobody doubts the need for real action to deal with alcohol-related violence, but Alcohol Protection Orders are not the answer. We can’t keep relying on police and prisons to address difficult social problems’ said Mr Hunyor. ... "
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: THE LAST DAY OF PETER CLARKE
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: The last day of Peter Clarke
http://thestringer.com.au/the-last-day-of-peter-clarke/
31 Oct 13: ""My heart was shattered, my soul broken, and now I wish I took him for a walk outside for his last bit of fresh air as a free man," said Kylie Hampton to the Alice Springs Coroner’s Court of her father’s last day of life. Ms Hampton’s father died in prison custody – in Alice Springs Hospital – shackled to the bed despite being both frail and due for release. In fact he had been due for parole the week before he died. Mr Clarke had been a minor offender, a father of nine, he had never been violent. His family ache at the indignity of his death, ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: ANTHONY AXTELL AND PETER CLARKE SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN SHACKLED
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: Anthony Axtell and Peter Clarke should never have been shackled
http://thestringer.com.au/anthony-axtell-and-peter-clarke-should-never-h...
31 Oct 13: "Social justice campaigners and rights advocates are calling for the end to indiscriminate use of restraints and shackling of prisoners while they are in hospital care. Many have called the wholesale use of restraints as draconian, inhumane – Aboriginal mothers have been shackled to stirrups during birth, heart patients shackled by their ankles to a hospital bed. Recently, Alice Springs Coroners Court heard that 56 year-old Peter Clarke died last year in Alice Springs Hospital, one week after he was due for parole, and till near the end he was shackled to his prison bed. ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: KWEMENTYAYE, CATALYST FOR CHANGE
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: Kwementyaye, catalyst for change
http://thestringer.com.au/kwementyaye-catalyst-for-change/
2 Nov 13: "One in eight of Alice Spring’s citizens are at one time or another taken off the streets by police for being drunk or disorderly and into protective custody. But for 27 year old Kwementyaye Briscoe this lead to his death in an Alice Springs jail cell on January 5 of last year. But instead the impoverishment of Aboriginal peoples in and around Alice Springs being the central theme of what leads to drunk and disorderly behaviour, the haves are telling the have-nots that what needs to be done is to reduce access to alcohol. But research clearly shows that inequality and abject poverty lead to various dysfunctions, ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
* ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN: AUSTRALIA'S TREATMENT OF INDIGENOUS POPULATION AKIN TO APARTHEID
- Analysis / Opinion
Antony Loewenstein: Australia’s treatment of indigenous population akin to apartheid
http://antonyloewenstein.com/2013/11/01/australias-treatment-of-indigeno...
The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/01/indigenous-incarcer...
1 Nov 13: "My weekly Guardian column is published today:
Aboriginal levels of incarceration in Australian prisons have never been higher. In fact, country-wide rates of imprisonment are worse per capita for the black population than during apartheid South Africa. These numbers are also largely ignored. This silence, which stretches across the country only to reach the highest levels of the political and media elites, is arguably Australia’s greatest outrage, and a stain on our projected global image as an egalitarian state with justice for all." Antony Loewenstein, an independent Australian journalist, photographer, documentarian and blogger who has written for The Guardian, The Nation, Huffington Post and Haaretz, amongst many others
* BACKGROUND TO JUSTICE REINVESTMENT, ABORIGINAL IMPRISONMENT AND ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY:
Last updated: 30 October 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/12/17/background-to-aboriginal-imprisonment...
* BACKGROUND TO THE JUSTICE FOR KUMENTJAYE BRISCOE CAMPAIGN:
Last updated: 26 October 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/12/17/background-to-the-justice-for-kumentj...
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