Ms. Julia Gillard, - Prime
Minister
Mr. Tony Abbott – Leader of
the Opposition.
Dear Prime Minister and the
Leader of the Opposition,
How rediculous that we still
do not recognise the original owners of this land – Australia in the
consitution and it is time for you to do something about it after the election.
Eddie Hwang
President
Unity Party WA
http://unitywaorg.blogspot.com.au
(Updated)
http://twitter.com/unitypartywa (Updated)
Phone/Fax: 61893681884
Environmental
friendly - save the trees - use email.
UPWA is
the only political party that calls a spade a spade.
Indigenous
leaders rally for recognition
David Geraghty Source: The
Australian
ALMOST a half-century after Aborigines and
Torres Strait Islanders won the right to be counted as Australian citizens,
indigenous leaders are again preparing to rally for recognition.
Veteran activist Lowitja O'Donoghue, who remembers well the
campaign for the 1967 referendum, is urging a new generation of Australians to
push for recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Australians in the
Constitution.
"We have just missed out, haven't we?'' she said. "We
just don't have that recognition. Everything in Aboriginal affairs takes
forever. We hoped it wouldn't take as long, but it does, and we just have to
keep working on it."
Ms O'Donoghue said she did not want to see a repeat of the
decade-long campaign needed before the 1967 referendum, which resulted in a 91
per cent yes vote.
"This time around, what I have noticed is the young people
are the people who are now keen to actually get on board and so that really
excites me," she said. "They need to step up, get out where the
rubber hits the road. I think they are getting that message."
Tanya Hosch, deputy national director for the campaign for
constitutional recognition, said activists such as Ms O'Donoghue had paved the
way for a younger generation of leaders to continue the push for equal rights.
"It is people like Lowitja and others who have been just
amazing, strident campaigners for decades and decades - not just on this issue
but on many - and they have really laid the groundwork for us to be at this
unique point in our nation's history right now where you can really feel that
groundswell of support coming from Australian people," Ms Hosch said.
"That doesn't happen by accident; it takes an enormous
amount of dedication from people who have, like Lowitja, spent their whole
lives making sure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are treated
fairly."
The Recognise campaign is making the case for constitutional
recognition ahead of a referendum that had been slated for this year's federal
election but last year was postponed. "We know that the Constitution
doesn't change itself," Ms Hosch said.
"It is a difficult task so we need all Australians to come
on board and help us.
"We need to get out there and meet as many people as
possible."
Ms Hosch said the referendum would take place when it was
assured of success. "We hope that is sooner rather than later," she
said.
"We should be bold and work towards getting this question
in our constitution resolved in the next few years."
Report finds explosion
in Aboriginal prisoners
Aboriginal leaders have warned of a crisis in
the justice system with an explosion in the indigenous prison population, a
spike in the number of juveniles being detained and the continuing high rate of
deaths in custody.
A major report released on Friday by the federal government has
confirmed that the number of Aborigines in prisons and police custody over the
past two decades has more than doubled to almost 8000.
The Australian Institute of Criminology report details more than
325 indigenous deaths in custody since a royal commission into the problem
reported in 1991.
It also shows that 97 per cent of juveniles in custody in the
Northern Territory are Aborigines - a doubling since 2007. In Western
Australia, Aborigines comprise more than two-thirds of juveniles in detention.
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Two in every five deaths in juvenile justice custody since 1980
have been indigenous prisoners. And figures gathered by the University of
Technology, Sydney, indicate young Aborigines are placed in detention at 31
times the rate of non-indigenous youth.
Former Australian of the Year and ANU law professor Mick Dodson
said it was ''absolutely shocking'' that indigenous people were 11 times more
likely to be jailed than non-indigenous people across mainland Australia, and
18.3 per cent more likely in Western Australia.
Professor Larissa Behrendt, of the University of Technology, said
the high indigenous imprisonment rates, and particularly the increasing numbers
of juveniles and women being detained, was a cause for national alarm.
She said the problem was being made worse by tough state ''law and
order'' campaigns and the continuing impact of the federal government's 2007
emergency intervention in the Northern Territory.
''The royal commission showed what needed to be done to fix this
but its recommendations are not being followed,'' she said.
The Institute of Criminology report claimed progress in the
management of deaths in custody, with figures indicating indigenous prisoners
were ''no more likely to die in prison custody than non-indigenous persons''
and with a decline in the number of suicides in custody, particularly by
hanging.
Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus claimed the report confirmed
that indigenous ''death-in-custody rates have decreased significantly in the
past decade. These encouraging findings are the result of efforts across
governments, police and prison authorities to address deaths in custody and
minimise risk of self-harm, but there is still more to be done.''
But the report said the 14 indigenous deaths in prisons recorded
in 2009-10 equalled the highest annual death rate on record. There were another
12 prison deaths in 2010-11.
''While it is important to place the number of deaths in the
context of the number of people in prison, it should not be overlooked that the
number of indigenous deaths in prison custody in recent years has again started
to rise,'' it said.
It said indigenous prisoners were dying at younger ages than
non-indigenous prisoners and predominantly from natural causes, reflecting the
poorer health and lower life expectancy of Aborigines.
The royal commission, which spent almost four years and more than
$40 million investigating 99 cases of Aboriginal deaths in custody, found there
were ''too many Aboriginal people in custody too often''.
The Institute of Criminology report echoed the royal commission's
view: ''At the heart of the problem is the over-representation of indigenous
persons at every stage of the criminal justice system.''
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