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1.1 Introduction In last year’s Social Justice and Native Title Report, I raised concerns about the changes resulting from the 2014-15 Budget and the restructure to Indigenous Affairs through the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS). Despite initial concerns about how these changes would impact our communities, I indicated that the streamlining of programs and the move away from a ‘one size…

The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomes the opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) in the Native Title Amendment (Reform) Bill 2011.

These issues highlight some concerns I have with the operation of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (Native Title Act), how it is interpreted by the common law and how the native title system is operating. They seriously impact on the exercise and enjoyment of human rights of Indigenous peoples.

In my 2005 Social Justice Report1, I argued that it was unacceptable for a country as rich as ours, and one based on the notion of the ‘fair go’ and the ‘level playing field’, to tolerate the gross health inequality that has existed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians for at long as records have been kept. I called for action, and I made recommendations that set out a broad path to…

Despite the positive positioning of the National Apology and the establishment of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, the fundamental nature of the Northern Territory Emergency Response continued to impede the development of a good relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Australian Government.

In June 2011, the Commission welcomed action taken by the Australian Government to move a significant number of families and unaccompanied children from immigration detention facilities to community-based detention.

Underpinning the Government’s partnerships approach to Indigenous policy is the belief that economic development is the key to sustainable improvement in the quality of life of residents of Indigenous communities.1

The colony of Moreton Bay was established as a penal outpost of New South Wales in 1825. Extreme violence accompanied the rapid expansion of European settlers, particularly in the north. This violence and the spread of introduced diseases resulted in a rapid decrease in the Indigenous population. Kidnapping Indigenous women and children for economic and sexual exploitation was common.

2.1 Indicators for change In Australia, 45 per cent of people with disabilities live in poverty or near poverty. This situation has worsened since the mid-1990s. Employment rates for people with disabilities have been decreasing and so too have educational outcomes. [4] Women and girls with disability experience violence at significantly higher rates, more frequently, for longer, in more…

Thank you for joining me here this afternoon to launch the Social Justice Report 2004 and the Native Title Report 2004. Both reports were tabled in Parliament out of session last Friday.

Indigenous children throughout Australia remain very significantly over-represented `in care' and in contact with welfare authorities. Their over-representation increases as the intervention becomes more coercive, with the greatest over-representation being in out-of-home care. Indigenous children appear to be particularly over-represented in long-term foster care arrangements. A high percentage…