Search results

<p><em>If there is one message I want Governments to hear from this report it is:  Do not press the reset button! ... If we continue to start over again the foundations previously laid will be pulled up time and again, never allowing enough time or energy to build the structure required to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage.</em><sup><a href="#fn122" name="fnB122">[121]</a></sup></p> <p><strong>Brian Gleeson, the Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services </strong></p>

<h3>2.1 Mandatory immigration detention</h3> <p>It is mandatory under the Migration Act for every non-citizen who is in Australia without a valid visa to be detained, regardless of his or her individual circumstances.<sup><a href="#fn24" name="fnB24">[24]</a></sup> Once detained, unlawful non-citizens must remain in detention until they are either granted a visa or removed from Australia.<sup><a href="#fn25" name="fnB25">[25]</a></sup></p>

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]

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 of Indigenous children in long-term foster care live with non-Indigenous carers.

Tasneem Chopra is the current Chair of the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria. She has been involved with this organisation since its inception over 13 years ago, and has a background in psychology, with over a decade of experience in community development. Tasneem currently works independently as a Cross Cultural Trainer and Consultant specialising in information sessions on ‘Understanding Islam and Muslims in Australia’ with a particular interest in promoting issues of social justice impacting on Muslim women.

<ul> <li><a href="#a1-1">1.1 A snapshot of children in detention </a></li> <li><a href="#a1-2">1.2 Australian law and the detention of children</a></li> <li><a href="#a1-3">1.3 Does the Government owe a duty of care to children in detention?</a></li> <li><a href="#a1-4">1.4 International law and the detention of children</a></li> </ul> <p align="right"><em>My hope finished now. I don’t have any hope. I feel I will die in detention</em>.</p> <p align="right">(Unaccompanied 17 year old, Phosphate Hill Detention Centre, Christmas Island, 4 March 2014)</p>

This guide has been produced by the Australian Human Rights Commission to help you participate in the Australian Government’s National Human Rights Consultation.

In its final recommendations, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation proposed that there be a legislative requirement for the Social Justice Commissioner to monitor progress towards reconciliation on an annual basis. In the Social Justice Report 2000 it was noted that while legislative amendment to this end was desirable, this task could be undertaken under my existing functions. Accordingly, I undertook to provide an annual evaluation of progress towards reconciliation as part of the social justice report.

...education is the engine room of prosperity and helps create a fairer, more productive society. It is the most effective way we know, to build prosperity and spread opportunity...[1]

This timeline focuses on one particular aspect of the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families. This material identifies some significant laws and practices that made removal lawful and includes writing and artwork from members of the Stolen Generations and their families which illustrate their experiences of these policies. This section uses as its primary resource Bringing them home, the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families.