Commentary on the Report of the Aboriginals and the Law Mission, International Commission of Jurists, Australian Section
| Date | 01 July 1992 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486589202500206 |
| Author | Chris Cunneen |
| Published date | 01 July 1992 |
186 (1992) 25
ANZJ
Crim
COMMENTARY
ON
THE
REPORT
OF
THE
ABORIGINALS
AND
THE
LAW MISSION,
INTERNATIONAL
COMMISSION
OF
JURISTS,
AUSTRALIAN
SECTION
Chris Cunneen"
During
November 1990 five members of
the
Australian Section of
the
International
Commission
of
Jurists
(ICJ)
visited Bourke, Brewarrina
and
Walgett in
north
west
NSW to
report
on criminal justice administration with particular
reference
to
Aboriginal people.
The
report
of
the
Mission
noted
that
the
north
west region
had
previously
been
the
subject of a major investigation.' According to
the
report, issues previously
identified in research such as
the
over-representation of Aboriginal
people
in the
criminal justice system,
the
number
of
police
stationed
in particular towns
and
the
use
of
certain public
order
offenceswere still factors which manifested themselves in
the
region.
The NSW
Summary
Offences Act (1988)
and
Public
Order
Offences
Amajor issue to
emerge
from the
report
was
the
level of prosecutions for
street
offences
under
the SummaryOffences
Act
and
other
legislation.
The
evidence in the
report
showed clearly
that
considerable police resources
and
court
time
were
involved in the prosecution
of
relatively
minor
offences.
For
example,
on
6
November 1990
there
were 114 charge
matters
listed in
the
Walgett Local
Court
and
Children's Court.
Some
50%
of
those charges
could
be reasonably categorised as
'street
offences',"
Of
the
114 charge matters,
one-third
were for offensive
conduct
or
offensive language
under
s 4
of
the
Summary Offences Act.
The
ICJ
report
showed a
similar breakdown in charge patterns for Brewarrina
and
Bourke. It was evident
from
the
report
that
the
use of such
street
offences considerably affected the
administration
of
the
justice system
and
Aboriginal perspectives on
the
way
the
system
operated.
Specifically in relation to offensive language charges
and
the
potential sanction
of
imprisonment,
the
IeJ
report
stated:
It may be contended reasonably that no case of offensive language could be so
bad
as to
warrant asentence
of
imprisonment,"
The
views expressed in
the
report
add
further
weight to
the
calls for
repeal
of
the
offensive language provisions and imprisonment as a punishment.
The
report
has
auseful summary of
the
background
to
the
introduction
of
the
Summary Offences Act, including reference to
the
then
NSW Attorney-General Mr
Dowd's second reading speech. Mr
Dowd
stated
that:
Police must be extremely careful
...
particularly in some of the large country towns where
a significantnumber of Aboriginals are arrested. AUI ask is that
arrest
be
thelast
resort.
That
is the structure of this measure. Though penalties are provided to back up the authority of
the police, I ask the police and othersin the community to understand that puttingpeople
intoprisons is thelast
resort,"
(emphasis added)
There
is considerable evidence
presented
in
the
report
which
demonstrates
how
different the reality
of
policing public
order
is from
the
sentiments expressed in the
second reading speech.
It
also draws
attention
to previous figures on Aboriginal
•
Institute
of Criminology, Sydney University LawSchool.
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