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State and Territory legislation, programs and policies in the areas of child welfare, adoption and juvenile justice are intended to provide a non-discriminatory framework for the administration of services. In many cases, programs are designed with the objective of reducing the extent of contemporary removals of Indigenous children and young people. In spite of this, the over-representation of Indigenous children among children living separately from their families and communities, temporarily or permanently, remains high.

If a group’s traditional country is not in a mining area they escape the injury to country that mining represents but have little opportunity to really develop industry and commerce that could support their communities.1

</B>The Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara and other Indigenous people of the town of Yulara, in the shadows of Uluru, had their claim for compensation for extinguishment of native title rejected by Justice Sackville in the Federal Court (the Jango case)1in 2006. The Noongar people (the Noongar case)2 had their claim for native title over the metropolitan area of Perth upheld. Further north, around Darwin, the Larrakia people (the Larrakia case)3 learned that the common law would not recognise their native title when Justice Mansfied handed down his decision.

HREOC is a national independent statutory body established under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986. It has a President and five Commissioners. The five positions are currently held by three persons.

The current mandatory detention policy of the Commonwealth of Australia breaches the fundamental principle of the rights of the child which is that children should be able to develop to their full potential. The policy breaches every article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The policy violates the right to health as established by international law.

Pursuant to s 31(b)(ii) of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth), I attach a report of my inquiry into a complaint of discrimination in employment by Mr William Mayne against the Commonwealth of Australia, Australian Defence Force - Royal Australian Air Force. I have found that the act complained of constitutes discrimination in employment on the basis of age.

The most distressing aspect about the level of juvenile justice intrusion in the lives of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is the fact that entry into the system is usually the start of a long career of incarceration for many (SNAICC submission 309 page 28).

The Complaint Handling Section (CHS) is responsible, through the President, for investigating and conciliating complaints lodged under federal anti-discrimination and human rights law. The CHS also delivers a Complaint Information Service. Accordingly, the CHS plays a key role in fulfilling the Commission's objective of delivering an Australian society in which human rights are protected.

Part II - THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND MULITCULTURAND AND INDIGENOUS AFFIARS (DIMIA) AND THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN DEPARMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES (DHS) RELATING TO CHILD PROTECTION NOTIFICATIONS AND CHILD WELFARE ISSUES PERTAINING TO CHILDREN IN IMMIGRATION DETENTION IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The meeting was chaired by Ms Susan Booth, Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Queensland. It was attended by 15 invited participants. Dr Bill Jonas, Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner, and Omeima Sukkarieh attended from HREOC.

In 2006 the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet made a revealing statement about Indigenous affairs. He argued that his own government&#8217;s policy performance in the Indigenous portfolio had been a failure. He went further to say that while well intentioned, the policies and approaches of the past 30 years had contributed to poor outcomes for Indigenous people.

This submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission's Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention Centres is the result of the work and contributions of many people.

In September 2002, the South Australian Coroner brought down his findings in the inquests into the deaths of Kunmanara[1] Ken (who died on 3 August 1999), Kunmanara Hunt (who died on 27 January 2001) and Kunmanara Thompson (who died on 26 June 2001). Each of these young Anangu was a chronic petrol sniffer (they had been sniffing for at least ten years) in their mid to late twenties living on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands (AP Lands). All three were found to have died as a result of inhalation of petrol fumes.[2]

The majority of reported sexual harassment was targeted at women, involved multiple forms of harassing behaviour and occurred on more than one occasion. In over one in five cases, the harassment continued for more than 12 months. Verbal harassment was often a precursor to physical forms of harassment.

The deceased was in the psychiatric unit at Long Bay Prison. He approached a nurse on 25 July 1989 at 2.30pm and stated he was feeling ill. She gave him advice as to the illness and provided him with medication. He later approached another nurse and said he wanted to return to his cell. The nurse checked with a prison officer and he was taken to his cell at about 3.30pm. At 4.10pm he was discovered hanging in his cell.

1. The provisions made by Australia to implement its international human rights obligations regarding child asylum seekers, including unaccompanied minors.