Missions and Institutions

The Bar Association of NSW's submission to a Law Reform Commission inquiry into First Nations incarceration calls for a new approach to sentencing which takes into account the deprivation and disadvantage inherent in an individual's Aboriginal background. The association also calls for an end to mandatory sentences, which make it impossible for courts to make any allowance for such disadvantage in their decisions. The rate at which Aboriginal people end up in jail is appalling and in NSW last year Aboriginal people were 3 per cent of the population, but 24 per cent of the prison population. [node:read-more:link]

Along with the Papal Apologies we have been researching the Bible and its scriptures, because one thing that haunts the memory of our Old People, and this memory has been handed down to us in this generation to this day, is the realisation: They came with the Book in their hand when we were the sovereigns of the soil, but within 50 years we were killed with impunity and we were imprisoned not for any wrongs doings, but simply because of who we are. The question we must now ask ourselves is what is the relevance of the Papal Apology to Oceania [node:read-more:link]