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The purpose of this chapter is to explain the relevance of international human rights law to children in Australia's immigration detention centres and to provide a quick reference point on the fundamental human rights principles that have influenced the approach of this Inquiry. This chapter also explains the role of United Nations (UN) guidelines in the Inquiry's analysis of Australia's human rights treaty obligations.

The landscape of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is under severe ecological stress. Issues such as salinity, poor water quality, stressed forests, dried wetlands, threatened native species, feral animals and noxious weeds are commonplace within the MDB. The reasons for this dramatic decline in river health are caused by water mismanagement including reversal of natural flow cycles and over allocation of water licences. Generations of bad farm practices such as deforestation have also played a major role in the ecological disaster that is the MDB.[1]

When we look at the many issues that face Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, it is easy to get paralysed by their complexity, entrenched nature and the sheer size of the challenge. But as an optimist, I believe that there is a lot that we can do to address these problems. There are many different tools available to suit the varying circumstances that face our diverse communities. Lateral violence is no different.

Homelands still belong to the people, we want to build homes on our land and live there. When we come to the homeland we come back to the peace and quiet. ... It is a much better environment on the homelands, better things for the children.[1]

<ul> <li><a href="#Heading263">1.1 Introduction </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading282">1.2 Machinery of Government changes </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading323">1.3 The 2014 Budget</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading504">1.4 Leadership, representation and engagement</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading568">1.5 Constitutional recognition</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading641">1.6 Indigenous Jobs and Training Review</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading702">1.7 Closing the Gap</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading777">1.8 Stolen Generations </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading807">1.9 International developments</a></li></ul>

The interim paper, Valuing Parenthood: Options for paid maternity leave set out an extensive range of objectives that paid maternity leave could meet. [242] Many of these objectives were dependent on the structure of the scheme that was implemented.

Human rights principles require that Indigenous people's relationships to land, based on traditional laws and customs, be given legal recognition and protection. International legal principles also recognise that Indigenous peoples have economic, social and cultural human rights. Native title, as it is constructed through the Australian legal system, has a limited capacity to meet these human rights standards.

It was established to consider whether Australia's immigration detention laws and its treatment of children in immigration detention comply with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

We commend HREOC for instituting this Inquiry and thank them for giving us the opportunity to make input on an issue which is of grave concern to the Co-operative which, for 23 years has been advocating for the rights and needs of immigrant children and their families in a diverse multicultural society.

<ul> <li><a href="#Heading2110">5.1 Introduction </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2126">5.2 The importance of Nations </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2162">5.3 Framework for Indigenous governance </a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2189">5.4 Community governance: a Nation building approach</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2288">5.5 Australian accounts of successful nation building</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2354">5.6 Voices of Nations, not just national voices</a></li> <li><a href="#Heading2421">5.7 Conclusions and recommendations</a></li> </ul> <hr>

In the Social Justice Report 1999, my first report as Social Justice Commissioner, I identified four key themes and challenges that existed in the approach of the federal government to Indigenous policy making at the time. These were moving beyond welfare dependency, accountability, participation and reconciliation.[1] Since the release of that report approximately four years ago, the key themes and challenges facing the government have remained relatively constant.

To develop a nationwide picture of existing government initiatives that address family violence, the Social Justice Commissioner sent correspondence to all State, Territory and relevant Australian government departments[1] requesting information on their policies and programs during the period 2006-2007.

Department of Justice and Youth Studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology The Department of Justice and Youth Studies (JYS) is part of the Faculty of Education, Language and Community Services (FELCS) at RMIT University. JYS offers undergraduate courses in Criminal Justice Administration and Youth Affairs, as well as Masters by Research and PhD programs.