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Editors --- "Mornington Island Review Report - Digest" [1996] AUIndigLawRpr 21; (1996) 1(1) Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 98

Mornington Island Review Report

Mornington: A Report by the Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner was released in April 1993. The report covered the results of a two and a half year investigation into a range of issues affecting Aboriginal people living on Mornington Island in far north Queensland.
When the report was released, a commitment was made to return to the Island within twelve months to review the situation. The Mornington Island Review Report covers the results of that follow-up visit. The "Executive Summary" is reproduced below.

Executive Summary

1. Administration of Criminal Justice

• The Criminal Justice Commission has improved its liaison and complaint handling capabilities with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. However, greater resources need to be directed into this area with the employment of additional indigenous personnel.
• The Queensland Police Service has failed to acknowledge that complainants should be kept informed of the progress of their complaint.
• The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission will be requesting further information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services in Queensland concerning perceptions of the inadequacies with the current system of investigating complaints against police.

Public Drunkenness

• This Report condemns the Queensland Government's record in the area of decriminalisation and the establishment of sobering-up centres in the strongest possible terms. The State Government has clearly failed to come to grips with this issue, particularly when deaths in custody will continue to occur in situations where people are detained for public drunkenness.
• It is inappropriate that the Mornington Island Council with limited resources be expected to fund its own sobering-up centre. The provision of sobering-up centres was one of the major recommendations to governments by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

The Watchhouse

• The Mornington Island watchhouse has been replaced, although the Queensland Police Service failed to consult with the community over the new watchhouse.
• The expense and size of the new complex is an inappropriate response to the needs of the community.
• There is a failure to separate clearly the court function from the police function in the new police complex.

Police Training and Selection

• There have been some positive changes in relation to training of State police. However, many of the responses appear to be slow in their implementation.
• There continues to be a failure to ensure that Aboriginal communities have formal and ongoing participation in the selection of police officers in their communities.
• The commitment to meaningful implementation of self-determination policies in relation to policing is questioned.

Community Police

• Substantial resources are being provided by the community itself with an increase in community police numbers and equal employment of men and women.
• There are still serious reservations about many of the issues relating to community police. The State Government (especially the Queensland Police Service) must reconsider its contribution in terms of resources.
• There have been improvements but much needs to be done in training and police functions.

• There is a need for careful monitoring by the Department of Family Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs (DFSAIA) of the extent to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people benefit from the diversionary aspects of the new juvenile justice legislation.

General Policing Issues

• The Queensland Police Service's Report of the Review into Policing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities needs to be released and responded to. The Report has been presented as the major policy initiative for policing in Queensland indigenous communities, yet after several years it is not available.

2. Employment, Goods and Services

Health

• The Aboriginal Health Service has not received extra staff as recommended in the first Mornington Report.
• It has been argued that, for local people, giving birth on Mornington Island is seen as a very important cultural matter. There has been little positive response to enable birthing to safely take place on the Island.
• There is need for Queensland Health to develop and implement an anti-racist strategy.
• The Report accepts that Queensland Health is considering its service provision to remote Aboriginal and
  Torres Strait Islander communities. However, given the urgency of the situation regarding poor levels of health of Indigenous people, the process of implementation must be accelerated. Specifically, the appointment of more trained staff (indigenous health workers, midwives, registered nurses and drug and alcohol
  workers) to the Aboriginal Health Service on Mornington Island would allow the speedy introduction of innovative programs which may also have wide applications in other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

• The description by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Planning (DHLGP) of some of the older housing stock on Mornington Island as `generally poor' is a gross understatement. The DHLGP needs to consider urgent funding to meet the basic housing requirements of people on Mornington Island.
• The Report identifies concern about housing management practices. Some aspects of those policies are determined by the level of funding available which is the responsibility of the DHLGP.
• Recent direct funding to Aboriginal organisations representing outstations should assist in the improvement of housing facilities.

• There has been a clear commitment from the principal and staff of the Mornington Island School to implement fully the recommendations made in the first Mornington Report. It is hoped that this commitment will prove to be long-term, systemic and supported by the Department of Education, rather than relying on the initiatives of individuals.

• The people of Mornington Island have recently been left with no banking facilities. This as an intolerable situation, particularly given the size of the community and its isolation.
• There is continuing concern about the prices and the limited availability of goods at the single store operated by the Gununamanda corporation.

• There is concern that CDEP is being regarded as a component of local government funding. If this is the case, then clearly CDEP is being used as a substitute for proper funding and equitable funding arrangements.
• More generally, there are some fundamental issues concerning the nature of CDEP and its relationship with other Federal legislation. The Commission is currently examining legislation and policies relating to CDEP to see whether they have may have [sic] adverse discriminatory consequences for CDEP participants which are inconsistent with human rights.

• There has been an increase in the employment of Aboriginal people in Council funded positions. However, there still needs to be greater participation by Aboriginal people on Mornington Island in all areas of employment, both public and private sectors, including senior positions.

3. Self Determination

• The Report questions how seriously the State Government is committed to the principles of self-determination in developing alternative governing structures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
• In some cases it is apparent that self-determination has been reduced to a nominal and tokenistic form of consultation.
• There is continuing concern that the political structure of the Shire on Mornington Island is a model of governance which was imposed by the State government and does not necessarily facilitate indigenous modes of governance.
• Because of the Shire model, Mornington Island has limitations imposed on it in developing community courts, retaining revenue collected as fines and developing customary law.
• Access to training for Councillors remains problematic. The State Government should consider financial contributions it could make in this area.
• It is now four years since the Legislation Review Committee released its report on self-determination in Queensland. The Commission is keen to see what tangible outcomes have been achieved to date with the Alternative Governing Structures Program. Until recently there had been no indication that the Council or people on Mornington Island were aware of its processes.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has a videotape available for Aboriginal communities, in which the Race Discrimination Commissioner and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner go through the Mornington Island Review Report. The report and videotape are available from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: GPO Box 5128, Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia, (ph) +61 2 284 9600, (fax) +61 2 284 9715.