Law

The Peak body for Indigenous legal services was denied funding under the Indigenous advancement strategy as $680m in grants handed out. The NSW ALS had its two applications rejected by the IAS scheme, including one for its existing custody notification service, which provides 24-hour legal advice and welfare support for Aboriginal people arrested in NSW. Some organisations said they did not know if or how much of a grant they had been given, or if funding would continue beyond the next 12 months.

A Perth Aboriginal woman sent to prison for unpaid fines says she was treated like a dangerous criminal and became very sick when forced to go without her blood pressure medication for three days.
At the watch house, she said she was asked for her signature for authorisation to obtain her medical records from her doctor. She was then sent to Bandyup Women's Prison where she asked if she could have her daily blood pressure medication, but was told it would take time to obtain authorisation from her doctor.

The Sovereign Yidindji Government under the authority of Jangalan Yidindji make known to the whole world that the Mayarra Nyalalji (Yidindji Police Force) as the primary law enforcement agency of Yidindji, have now been given the force of law to uphold the laws so as to maintain peace and order within Yidindji Territory.
The Yidindji Tribal People now make known to the world that the Mayarra Nyalalji Emblem is used to identify the authority of the Mayarra Nyalalji ...

The Sovereign Yidindji Government under the authority of the Yidindji Tribal Council of Elders make known to the whole world that the Mayarra Nyalalji (Yidindji Police Force) as the primary law enforcement agency of Yidindji, have now been given the force of law to uphold the laws so as to maintain peace and order within Yidindji Territory. The Sovereign Yidindji Government Emblem is used to identify Sovereign Yidindji Government Property and the role of the Mayarra Nyalalji is to preserve peace and good order in all areas of Yidindji.

If you don't know the word autochthonous you're in good company. It means “indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists”. It is in the text, prepared by legal advisors to similar movements around Australia, of Whitegate's “declaration of sovereignty and self-determination” of the State of Undoolya. A spokesperson stated the group will have nothing to do with the so-called National Summit for Freedom to be held in Alice Springs next week, run by interstate activists Tauto Sansbury, Geoff Clark and Michael Mansell.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Darwin has been focusing on abuse of children at the Retta Dixon home, which mainly housed Aboriginal children between 1946 until it closed in 1980.
There was clearly evidence to support charges against convicted sex offender Donald Bruce Henderson, who had numerous claims of child abuse against him dropped in 1976 and again in 2002, the head of an inquiry says.

A Territory government drive a train through the Land Rights Act if the Federeal government handed it over to them.

'So what', you may think, Land Rights as we know it is a farce, you might say. Well, thats all very well, but many of our brothers and sisters are locked into these contracts, and while they stay on country, they can't do anything about it. This article has some invaluable insights into how it was much better before John Howard smashed it, and how it can get much worse.

Tony had never been in trouble with the law but briefly lost his cool in a racist road rage incident he regrets. He'd been under stress, working long hours to keep up with his mortgage. His wife had just had their first baby and was a full-time mum. If Tony went to jail he'd lose his job and his family would be left totally without support. The court gave him a suspended sentance, which allowed him just one more chance. Come September 2014 the option of a suspended sentence will cease to exist in Victoria.

Yolngu Nations Assembly (YNA) urges the Commonwealth Government and Indigenous communities to consult carefully before considering entering into 99-year township leases ... The Traditional Owners only made an agreed to negotiate. "When Yolngu say, 'yes, we understand' that doesn't mean 'yes, we can go ahead'."

To force our people to accept 99 year leases for their land as the only way for them to achieve any form of economic advantage from their homelands is a crime.

First Nations people across Canada celebrate Tsilhqot'in First Nation's win in Supreme Court ruling. The significant victory gives hope to other First Nations peoples 'nations-wide'