Intervention of the Indigenous Peoples Organisation of Australia at UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues – April 2010 This intervention elaborates on the history and impacts of the legal fictions of the Doctrines of Discovery in the USA and Terra Nullius in Australia on Indigenous peoples. It recommended that the Permanent...
ALSWA Submission to the WA Parliament - March 2010 This submission considers the Aboriginal Housing Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 (WA) (‘the Bill’) which was developed to implement a new Commonwealth approach to Aboriginal housing driven by the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing. The Bill proposed radical change to the...
ALSWA Response to the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia’s Discussion Paper – February 2010 This submission provided comment on the juror selection process and eligibility for jury service of people from various specific occupations. ALSWA supports the retention of five peremptory challenges for all accused to assist in removing perceived...
ALSWA Submission to the Legislation Committee of the WA Legislative Council – January 2010 ALSWA provided this submission to urge the WA Government to withdraw the Bill, which proposed to give the Western Australian police powers to stop and search people in designated areas without reasonable suspicion. Failing its withdrawal, ALSWA...
ALSWA submission to Commonwealth House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs – December 2009 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths are disturbingly overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. This submission briefly discusses the historical context surrounding the disparities and intergenerational poverty experienced by many Aboriginal and...
ALSWA Submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department – November 2009 This submission provides comment and reference to previous ALSWA submissions that address specific issues highlighted in the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s (UNHRC) concluding comments on Australia’s compliance with the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The submission focuses...
ALSWA Submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department – November 2009 ALSWA prepared this submission in response to the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) invitation to the public to submit comments on the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). The Concluding...
ALSWA Submission to the House Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth – August 2009 Housing is a human right which is interconnected with a person’s standard of living and enjoyment of life. It is important that international instruments which refer to these rights are entrenched in the underlying principles...
ALSWA Submission to the Commonwealth Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs – July 2009 This submission focuses on the access of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in WA to legal representation and justice. This access is limited by the lack of a State-wide interpreter service and limited availability of...
ALSWA Submission to the WA Attorney General - June 2009 This submission outlines the success of the Aboriginal Community Courts in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Norseman based on interviews with multiple stakeholders including court coordinators, Magistrates, ALSWA staff and prosecutors. The submission calls for an extension of community courts across Western Australia. The...