Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Australian Indigenous Law Reporter

Editors --- "The First Report of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Overview Committee (Queensland) - Digest" [1997] AUIndigLawRpr 29; (1997) 2(2) Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 324

The First Report of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Overview Committee (Queensland)

An Agenda for Action

The State of Queensland (Department of Families, Youth and Community Care)

Brisbane, 1996.

Members of the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Overview Committee were appointed in December 1992. Their role has been to oversee, from an Indigenous perspective, the implementation of Royal Commission recommendations in Queensland. An Agenda for Action is the first independent report from the Overview Committee on the progress and process of implementation. The report is based on consultations with Indigenous communities throughout Queensland. Two extracts are reproduced below: "An Agenda for Action" (pages 216-217) and the list of "Recommendations" from the Report.

Recommendations

Recommendation I

When the current term of the Overview Committee expires in late 1996, the functions of the AJAC(Q) should be amalgamated with those of the Overview Committee, and the Overview Committee reconstituted.

Recommendation 2

As a result of proposed amendments to the ATSIC Act 1989 (Cth), the Overview Committee must be involved in the formulation of the proposed new Overview Committee, including the development of its terms of reference, and the composition of its membership.

Recommendation 3

The complete Overview Committee, including the full-time Chairperson should reallocate portfolios (when the functions of the Overview Committee and AJAC(Q) are amalgamated). The new Overview Committee should reallocate portfolios and the Law and Justice Sub-Committee should assume the brief and terms of reference of the AJAC(Q).

Recommendation 4

The Secretariats of the Overview Committee and the AJAC(Q) should be amalgamated and placed under the direction of the full-time Chairperson of the reconstituted Overview Committee.

Recommendation 5

The IDC, with its current operation, is an inappropriate mechanism to disseminate and co-ordinate RCIADIC responses. Should the IDC not operate as it was intended, it should be disbanded, and reconstituted with senior representatives of the Premier, Minister for Police and Corrective Services, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Minister for Families, Youth and Community Care.

Recommendation 6

The Overview Committee urges the Commonwealth Government not to relieve ATSIC of its special monitoring functions granted by the RCIADIC. Rather we encourage the further resourcing of the ATSIC Monitoring Unit and the enhancement of its coordination functions so that it assumes the lead role in the monitoring and reporting of RCIADIC implementation on a multi-government level. The pre-requisites for its sound and effective operation are (i) it be effectively coordinated with the State and Territory monitoring bodies such as the Overview Committee and other State AJACS, and (ii) be headed and staffed by persons independent of government.

Recommendation 7

The Overview Committee urges all Queensland Government agencies with responsibility for the implementation of RCIADIC recommendations to provide an assessment of their strategies and programs and how these are responding to the continuing increase in adult and juvenile Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detention levels. These agencies should also audit the implementation of their RCIADIC recommendations in order to ensure meaningful rather than apparent implementation of recommendations.

Recommendation 8

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government, in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to develop a program which provides financial support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, organisations, and communities for counselling and grief support. The program must be widely promoted and its scope must cover suicides and other traumatic events which have occurred in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and which have the potential to impact upon the emotional well-being of prisoners and detained young people from those communities.

Recommendation 9

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to progress reforms of the coronial laws, including the establishment of an Office of State Coroner, and the appointment of a superior court judge as State Coroner. The adequate resourcing of this Office to include coronial investigators other than police officers, independent lawyers assisting, and the sensitising of the re-vitalised coronial system to accommodate indigenous perspectives on death. The Overview Committee further urges the development of a policy framework to establish faster proceedings, more effective investigations, and consistently meaningful findings and prompt and effective responses from relevant government agencies.

Recommendation 10

The Overview Committee calls upon the Minister for Police to provide a copy of the Queensland Police Service 1994 Report into Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Police Liaison Officers Scheme to the Overview Committee.

Recommendation 11

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Police Service to specifically designate those Police Liaison Officers who have been employed to liaise with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community as "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Police Liaison Officers" rather than the more generic "Police Liaison Officers". These officers must be appropriately trained, and have standard duty statements which are consistent throughout all police regions.

Recommendation 12

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government as a matter of urgency to provide the Queensland Police Service with the legislative authority to transfer intoxicated persons to diversionary centres, and the provision of appropriate immunities to diversionary centres.

Recommendation 13

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government as a matter of urgency to ensure that officers of the Queensland Police Service are fully trained in the procedures and practices outlined in the custody manual. This training must also extend to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community police.

Recommendation 14

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government, in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to develop a policy and legislative framework for the acknowledgment of Aboriginal customary law, and Torres Strait Islander tradition.

Recommendation 15

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to conduct an independent public inquiry into alleged incidents at the John Oxley, and other youth detention centres.

Recommendation 16

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to develop a framework to involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in addressing juvenile justice issues, through initiatives such as Family Group Conferencing, and other community sentencing strategies used in other Australian States and overseas, and through an emphasis on community outstations. These initiatives can be implemented through the existing Local Justice Initiatives Program and Elders Justice Network Program.

Recommendation 17

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to initiate an independent review into juvenile detention centres, in accordance with Royal Commission Recommendation 167 which proposed no lesser standard of care in such centres. The Overview Committee notes that considerable discrepancies exist in Queensland between the facilities provided for adult prisoners as against juveniles, for example Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander juveniles receive an inferior level of support from Elders, and are more likely to be incarcerated further away from their home communities, than adults.

Recommendation 18

The Overview Committee supports the continued funding and enhancement of the existing drug and alcohol programs, and calls upon the Queensland Government to support the establishment of alcohol and drug rehabilitation facilities in discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, such as Lockhart River, Doomadgee, and Mornington Island.

Recommendation 19

The Overview Committee calls upon Queensland Health to develop a program to address alcohol and smoking amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young persons as a proactive response to future community health problems.

Recommendation 20

The Overview Committee calls upon the Education Department to develop an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures course as part of the curriculum for all primary and secondary students, and the completion of a cross cultural training course by all teachers.

Recommendation 21

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to immediately implement the generic package for Cross Cultural Awareness Training for all government employees.

Recommendation 22

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to develop a widely available program which enables functional literacy, especially in remote and rural communities.

Recommendation 23

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to facilitate the development of meaningful strategies to address the economic self sufficiency of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Recommendation 24

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to fulfil its infrastructure commitments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and to increase funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing to avert the developing crises on communities.

Recommendation 25

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to fulfil its infrastructure commitments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and to boost infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities by taking into account environmental safe guidelines, appropriate technologies for remote indigenous communities, and tendering procedures which encourage local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to compete with outside contractors.

Recommendation 26

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to establish a small task force to investigate the situation of housing and infrastructure on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and report to Local, State and Federal Governments (including ATSIC). The task force should be chaired by an Overview Committee member and comprise representatives from the Minister for Public Works and Housing, and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

Recommendation 27

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to implement the Alternative Governing Structures Program with simplified guidelines that specifically target alternative governing structures for DOGIT communities, and which encourage implementation teams that are accountable to communities, rather than consultants. The level of funding to support this program must be increased, and general community planning must be subject to a separate program. These extended roles can be accommodated within the Community Services Development Division of the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care.

Recommendation 28

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government, in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to develop a policy and legislative framework which permits Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to deal with minor offences rather than having the matter being dealt with by the police or magistrates. This option must be at the request of the accused, and not result in "double jeopardy".

Recommendation 29

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government, in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to develop a policy and legislative framework for the criminal and juvenile justice system to formally take into account sanctions imposed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, including Local Justice Initiatives, when sentencing an offender from those communities. This framework must taken into account, the views and wishes and needs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in the sentencing process.

Recommendation 30

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Aboriginal and Islanders Legal Services Secretariat to actively pursue test-cases for the compensation for deaths in custody.

Recommendation 31

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to develop an equal access principle to ensure that information on government programs is equally accessible to all communities.

Recommendation 32

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to delay the introduction of amendments to the Community Services Acts until after the delivery of effective training for community police, and the completion of community-wide consultation. The amendments must include plain-English guides so that all in the communities are part of these developments. The Overview Committee is concerned that the proposed changes will further entrench the mainstream local government model on DOGIT communities which is contrary to the general thrust of the Royal Commission's recommendations. The Overview Committee proposes initiatives such as the Alternative Governing Structures Program as an appropriate alternative.

Recommendation 33

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to sponsor a reference to the Queensland Law Reform Commission, or another suitable body, to enquire into a meaningful implementation of the Aboriginal customary law into relevant areas of Queensland statute and common law.

Recommendation 34

The Overview Committee calls upon the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to reviews its implementation of its Family Support Program.

Recommendation 35

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to decriminalise public drunkenness.

Recommendation 36

The Overview Committee supports the concept of diversionary centres, but seeks a review of the current implementation of the program which revisits the original intent of the program, and an evaluation of the establishment and resourcing of formal and informal diversionary and crisis centres in locations throughout Queensland.

Recommendation 37

The Overview Committee calls for Department of Families, Youth and Community Care to reverse its previous decision regarding the management of the Arthur Petersen Special Care Centre, and transfer management and control to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community of Mt Isa.

Recommendation 38

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Police Service to take responsibility for the supervision, training, and remuneration of Aboriginal and Island Council community police officers, who must be trained in all aspects of community policing, including the administration and execution of relevant community law and order by-laws. These community police officers must also be selected and endorsed by the community, and have uniform duty statements.

Recommendation 39

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to phase out the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justices of the Peace Training Program, as it is inconsistent with RCIADIC recommendation 93, and replace it with the Local Justice Initiatives Program.

Recommendation 40

The Overview Committee calls upon the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to immediately implement its Protocols for Consulting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.

Recommendation 41

The Overview Committee recognises the important role played by Elders in contributing to the well being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners, and calls upon the Queensland Government to develop programs to financially assist Elders in completing these important duties.

Recommendation 42

The Overview Committee calls upon the Commonwealth Government to reconsider its support for RCIADIC recommendation 189 which proposes that the ATSIC be constituted as an employing authority independent of the Australian Public Service.

Recommendation 43

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to extend its implementation of RCIADIC recommendation 96 to ensure that all magistrates and police prosecutors receive appropriate training designed to explain contemporary Aboriginal society, customs and traditions.

Recommendation 44

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to ensure that Aboriginal legal services receive funding to access interpreter services for their clients who require such assistance.

Recommendation 45

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to develop a program which ensure a meaningful implementation of RCIADIC recommendation 104 which proposed consultation with Aboriginal communities before sentencing offenders. The Overview Committee notes recent judicial developments by the Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeal which recognise that the views, wishes and needs of the Aboriginal community are clearly relevant considerations in the sentencing process.

Recommendation 46

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to address infrastructure requirements for Island communities throughout the Torres Strait, and in particular Boigu where raw sewerage flows in the school ground.

Recommendation 47

The Overview Committee is generally concerned about the lack of effort by Queensland Health in addressing the serious health needs in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and notes that the conditions in some communities are worse than some third world nations. The Overview Committee calls upon the Minister for Health to direct a departmental reassessment of how Queensland Health is implementing the Royal Commission recommendations relating to improving the health conditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Recommendation 48

The Overview Committee is concerned with the dismembering of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health arrangements, as there is a crucial need for Queensland Health to establish new regional consultative advisory structures with substantial Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation linked to Queensland Health areas responsible for developing policy and the administration of programs.

Recommendation 49

The Overview Committee calls upon Commonwealth and State Health Ministers to redress the disproportionately inadequate funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical services in Queensland, and to ensure appropriate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical services are established in those areas significant areas of need which have no such services.

Recommendation 50

The Overview Committee calls upon ATSIC Regional Councils to ensure that funding is not made available unless an organisation submits a community plan.

Recommendation 51

For justice and economic development State Government should amend the Aboriginal Land Act so Vacant Crown Land and all categories of reserves can be claimed including by occupation and/or need criteria, and negotiate this, mining vetos and preserving native title with the Queensland Federation of Land Councils.

Recommendation 52

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to assess its expenditure on DOGIT communities, its practices in relation to contracts and the provision of infrastructure to ensure that policies are developed to maximise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community employment and training, and participation in enterprise development.

Recommendation 53

The Overview Committee calls upon ATSIC, and relevant Federal and Queensland agencies to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to identify and facilitate the development of resources and economic development.

Recommendation 54

The Overview Committee calls upon National Aboriginal and Islanders Legal Services Secretariat (NAILSS), or another independent Organisation to make a systematic study of the possible utility of available international remedies and make this information available to all indigenous legal services in Queensland.

Recommendation 55

The Overview Committee strongly endorses recommendations for the establishment of out-stations and calls upon the Queensland Government in consultant with Aboriginal communities to develop a program which encourages and funds this important movement.

Recommendation 56

The Overview Committee calls upon the Queensland Government to establish a land acquisition fund, as has been developed in New South Wales.

Recommendation 57

The Overview Committee believes that reconciliation can not be achieved until land, sovereign rights, and justice and equity have been fully achieved.

An Agenda for Action

The Queensland Government claims that 258 of the 280 recommendations it has specifically endorsed have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented. Its definition of `implemented' is that the recommendations have been translated into statutory form, be it in Acts of the Parliament, subordinate legislation or procedures/operations manuals. The Overview Committee challenges the appropriateness of this current definition. It should not be so narrowly defined. The mere entrenchment of a recommendation in the QPS Custody Manual, for example, is of no practical effect whatsoever if the operational QPS officers have no knowledge of the change, as the circumstances of the Daniel Yock death so graphically illustrated. In the indigenous death in custody at Longland Correctional Centre in July 1995, the General Manager's Rules stated that resuscitation was to be offered. None was. Can the Queensland Government honestly state that this constitutes implementation? It is of no assistance whatsoever to the families of the deceased to know that the Manual or Rules got it right but that the custodians got it wrong.

A quarter of all indigenous deaths in custody in Australia since 31 May 1989, when the Royal Commission's terms of reference closed, have occurred in Queensland. Importantly, the key finding of the Royal Commission, that the imprisonment of indigenous persons was disproportionately higher, has not shown any significant improvement in Queensland.

It is clear that the legislative or administrative change trumpeted by politicians and senior public executives is worthless unless it is adhered to in practice. As an indigenous legal service stated to SCATSIA:

`In principle' support from Brisbane or Canberra, however well-intentioned, is truly meaningless if it is not translated into practice at Kowanyama or Aurukun or our other client communities.

In so far as the Overview Committee is concerned, the in-principle support from Canberra or Brisbane must be translated into practice in every community and institution in Queensland. In many crucial areas, such as police procedures and custodial health and safety, significant policy change has occurred. These policy changes have not, however, been translated into actual practice.

To the Overview Committee, no RCIADIC recommendation is `implemented' unless that recommendation is adhered to in practice.

We have set out in Table 11 the agency or department which bears the primary responsibility for each recommendation. The name of an officer in each department or agency and the contact telephone and facsimile numbers of this officer appears in the table. We sought to obtain the name of the officer responsible on a recommendation-by-recommendation basis, not on an agency basis, but the Queensland Government denied us this information and would only permit one name for each department or agency. The ATSIC Monitoring Unit in Canberra provided us with the names of officers for individual recommendations but then stated that this procedure is to been discontinued in its 1994-1995 report, due for release soon. This was because of the turnover of staff. In future, only telephone numbers are to be listed, not the names of officers. However, the 1994-1995 telephone numbers were not available at the time of writing of this First Report. The Overview Committee is intent on providing the name of the relevant officer and their telephone number.

In naming this one officer, the Overview Committee in no way wishes to attach ultimate responsibility to this officer. S/he is merely a servant of the government. The Minister of each Department or the head of an agency is formally and ultimately responsible. We believe, however, that setting out the name of the officer in each of the departments or agencies that bears the primary responsibility for the implementation of the recommendation is a direct contribution to accountability for the implementation of the individual recommendations. It is also a means of combating any attempted diffusion of responsibility for our experience is that accountability for the implementation processes is often lost in bureaucratic mazes.