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The Australian Government has signalled that economic development is a central focus for the Indigenous Affairs portfolio this term. The Ministerial Taskforce on Indigenous Affairs, created in May 2004 to drive and coordinate the federal Government’s Indigenous policies,1 identified as one of three key areas2 for priority action:

In early 2001 AMEEF, as managers of the MMSD (Australia) project, commissioned various studies including a baseline assessment of the minerals industry and five other areas of interest: mining and biodiversity, stakeholder engagement, mining-Indigenous agreements, managing minerals wealth, and industry-based initiatives for sustainable development. These studies will contribute to a final report of the MMSD (Australia) project, which will form part of MMSD's global project.

While feedback in relation to the legal system was actively sought throughout all of the consultations, a number of targeted consultation sessions with individuals and organisations specifically involved or engaged in the legal system were also undertaken. These included:

DR OZDOWSKI: Good morning everybody. I would like to formally open this public hearing which is the last, hopefully, of the series held around Australia. My name is Sev Ozdowski and I'm the Human Rights Commissioner and to my right I've got Professor Trang Thomas, who is Professor of Psychology at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Today the Commission will be assisted by counsel Michael Wigney and Mr Jonathon Hunyor of the Commission and I would like to ask for the benefit of the audience that the counsel for DIMIA and ACM would introduce themselves.

Family violence and abuse occurs at unacceptable rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) communities. We have heard many tragic stories of women, children and young people who have experienced devastating sexual abuse and family violence. It is a scourge that is causing damage and trauma among Indigenous communities, to our women and children, and to the fabric of Indigenous cultures.

The reporting period for this Report is 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009. Throughout this period, there was significantly more activity in native title law and policy than I witnessed in the first five years of my term as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.

Federal human rights and anti-discrimination law provides for the Commission to investigate and resolve complaints of alleged discrimination and breaches of human rights. The Commission’s complaint work is central to its role in protecting and promoting human rights and complements the Commission’s policy and education functions. The Commission’s complaint process provides an effective, efficient and accessible means by which individuals and groups can voice and resolve disputes about discrimination and human rights.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, agreement-making can be an expression of free, prior and informed consent and the beginning of cooperative relationships with governments and other parties.

During the 2004 reporting period I have embarked on a series of consultations focusing on the ideas and principles that were contained in a Discussion Paper, released by my predecessor as Social Justice Commissioner in June 2003. The Discussion Paper was entitled Promoting Economic and Social Development through Native Title (at Annexure 1). This chapter seeks to record and develop the ideas and discussions that were generated in the consultation process. 1

The following notes are a brief summary of the observations made by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s (HREOC) President, Human Rights Commissioner and staff. HREOC emphasises that these summary notes and recommendations are based solely on what we personally observed and heard from staff and detainees during our visits.

It has now been over two years since the federal government introduced new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs. One of the catchcries of the new arrangements is that they are aimed at ‘harnessing the mainstream.’ This is to be achieved by removing or reducing the barriers that prevent Indigenous peoples from accessing existing mainstream services on an equitable basis.

We must face up to our humanitarian responsibilities to accept refugee children and their families. We must take them out of the immigration detention centres and welcome them into the community where they can play, learn and grow. At least then when our children look back on this time and ask us what we did to stand up for refugee kids, we can say we gave them their childhood." (Calvert, 2001).

from Behaviours Associated with Victimisation in The Impact of Current and Traumatic Stressors on the Psychological Well-Being of Refugee Communities. [1]

1) Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD): additional information to Australia's 10th, 11th and 12th periodic reports under CERD, March 2000;

In June 2003, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) engaged the Centre for Cultural Research (CCR) at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) to investigate Australian Arabs' and Muslims' experiences of post-September 11 racism, the extent to which these experiences were going unreported and the reasons for this. The CCR team was charged with addressing the following questions: