Past entries

In early 2007, following a series of revelations about the level of child sex abuse in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, the previous Federal Government  announced and legislated for the implementation of a series of emergency measures.  This became known as the Northern Territory Emergency Intervention.  You can read the key legislation that introduced this intervention on the Australian Parliamentary Library Indigenous Affairs website, under Northern Territory Emergency Intervention.

In March 2009, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination requested that the Federal Government take urgent action to ensure that this new legislation complied with the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The Human Rights Law Centre wrote a letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the Attorney-General Robert McClelland and Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin on 10 November 2009 urging them to immediately reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) to apply to all measures of the Northern Territory Intervention.

If you have a reader's card for the State Library of NSW, you can find more articles in the media on Proquest ANZ Newsstand dealing with the Northern Territory Intervention.  Type in "northern territory intervention".  They include:

• "The Northern Territory intervention and the Racial Discrimination Act" by Renata Grossi (2009) 31 (3) LegalDate 11-13;
• "Response and responsibility" by Richard Mohr (2009) 7 (11) Indigenous Law Bulletin 15-18; and
• "downunderallover:developments around the country" (2009) 34 (2) Alternative Law Journal 129-136

'Bail Me Out: NSW young offenders and bail' has been produced by the Youth Justice Coalition.  This research examined 145 cases before the Children's Court.  It describes the links between homelessness, policing practices and community resources and the young offender's breaching of bail conditions.

'Breach of Bail and Juvenile remand and crime' and 'Trends in bail and sentencing outcomes' are earlier blog posts that will link you to other research that has been done on this issue.

If you have a reader's card for the State Library of NSW, you can find more articles in the media on Proquest ANZ Newsstand dealing with bail.  These include:

• 'Juvenile justice: responding to Australia's children and young people in trouble with the law' by Jenny Bargen, (2008)  92 Reform (Winter) 28-32, 72, and
• 'Law and order 2008: a very tough new world' by Dennis Miralis, (2008) 64 (3) Law Society Journal (April) 60-63.

The ‘The Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in Australia’  was released on 8 October 2009.  There is a summary included with the report.  The report is a large document and to read it online you need to click on the 'downloads' link. 

In December 2008 the Rudd Government asked the National Human Rights Consultation Committee to examine the protection and promotion of human rights and responsibilities in Australia.

The Committee conducted the most extensive consultation on human rights issues in Australia’s history, receiving more than 35,000 submissions and conducting over 65 community roundtables and public hearings across more than 50 urban, regional and remote locations.

The report contains 31 recommendations and provides important information about what we do well and assesses options for addressing the areas where we can do better.

Overwhelmingly, the report finds that Australians support the protection of human rights, however, most of the debate surrounds the way these rights are protected.  What the research has identified is that there are many views on how human rights and responsibilities should be protected, promoted and realised, including on the merits of a Human Rights Act.

Importantly, it has also shown that there are many other important ways to protect and promote human rights including, for example, through enhanced education and improved parliamentary scrutiny.

The Attorney-General released a public statement at the same time as the launch of the report which outlines the key findings and states the Australian government's intentions to carefully consider the Committee's report and outline its response in the coming months.

George Williams responded to the report with a piece in the SMH 'A clear voice crying dignity for our fellow beings' on 9 October 2009.

Numerous articles have been written in the media in response to the release of this consultation report.  You can do a search on Proquest Australia and New Zealand Newsstand, a database of fulltext newspaper articles.  You need to register as a client of the State Library.  Set dates to after 1 October 2009 and type in 'human rights and Brennan'.  (Just typing in 'human rights' will get too many hits.)

The LIAC Crime Library has been updated.  It includes the following new cases:

• R v Bui - a district court decision that involved exposing children to the cultivation of cannabis,
• R v Thomas & Manju Sam - the parents who were found guilty of manslaughter by criminal negligence of their baby daughter Gloria,
• R v Walsh - John Walsh's conviction for the murder of his wife and two grandchildren in Cowra,
• R v BW & SW - the murder and manslaughter of Ebony, the daughter of BW and SW by starvation, and
• R v Barker - the stabbing attack of a teenager that was heard in the District Court.

The entries for the convictions of Bruce Burrell for the murder of Kerrie Whelan and Dorothy Davis have also been updated. 

The New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research have published their latest statistics for 2008 for criminal matters titled NSW Criminal Court Statistics 2008  These statistics include matters heard in the Children's Court.  If you are interested in how recent changes to laws are affecting young people, in particular how the changes to the Bail Act 1978 (NSW) have affected applications for bail by young offenders, these statistics will be of interest. 

Key statistics demonstrate that in the Children's Court between 2007 and 2008

• The number of juveniles appearing in court and convicted of one or more offences rose by 17%; 
• The number of juveniles refused bail rose by 48%; and
• The number of juveniles receiving control orders rose by 18%.