Amnesty International Australia has made a submission to the inquiry into the Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 (QLD). The bill sets out to: make it harder for recidivists to get bail, introduce a 12-month trial of GPS monitoring as a bail condition for 16 and 17-year-olds charged with particular offences, make it …
Tag Archives: Indigenous rights
NSW deaths in custody – when will someone be held accountable?
Responding to news that two Indigenous people died in custody in NSW in the past week, Amnesty International Australia Indigenous Rights Lead Nolan Hunter said: “We’re coming up to the thirty year anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody (RCIADIC) and it feels as though very little has changed. “For example, recommendation …
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CDC review: shaming people doesn’t solve intractable issues
“The cashless debit card was always just another paternalistic response to addressing issues that affect Indigenous people in this country. Approaches that have failed to make significant inroads into addressing intractable issues like poverty and discrimination. “The report into the trial, conducted at great expense, found that people involved in the trial of the CDC …
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Backtrack Boys Education Resources
BackTrack is a community based not-for-profit organisation helping young people who are having a hard time, get back on track. The program works with young people that find themselves hanging around in parks, stealing for food, sleeping on the streets, and running into trouble with the police. These young people are on a path to …
ACT paves the way for vital law reform by raising the age
The Australian Capital Territory’s Legislative Assembly has voted to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, paving the way for other jurisdictions to reform an outmoded law which disproportionately affects Indigenous kids. Amnesty International Australia campaigner, Joel Clark said: “Amnesty congratulates the ACT on showing the other states and territories that raising …
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Police must do more to address racism
Responding to the violent arrest of an Indigenous boy in NSW this week, Amnesty International Australia Indigenous Rights Advisor, Rodney Dillon, said: “Sadly, this latest incident is an example of a long history of violence and discrimination leveled at Indigenous people by police all over the country since colonisation. There have been more than 400 …
CAG should seize the opportunity to transform the lives of Indigenous kids by raising the age
The Councils of Attorneys-General (CAG), which is due to meet in July, has a unique opportunity to give hundreds of Indigenous kids back their childhoods, according to Amnesty International Australia’s new report, Raise the Age: Kids Belong in Community. The report finds that although the overall number of children in detention has fallen, this is …
Indigenous kids in prison: Australia’s national disgrace
We have failed Indigenous kids. It is a matter of national urgency to raise the age and commit to justice reinvestment.
Northern Territory Police must stop transporting kids in cages
Northern Territory Police must stop the practice of transporting children in remand and detention in so-called “Police cages” – a ute with a cage on the tray covered with a tarpaulin. Amnesty International Australia has received and investigated numerous reports of children being transported, unrestrained, in these cages for journeys of up to five hours. …
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Measures designed to protect push Indigenous people further to the margins
In response to state and territory governments issuing on-the-spot fines for breaking social distancing and quarantine rules, Amnesty International Australia Indigenous Rights Lead, Lidia Thorpe, said: “Governments are so committed to appearing as though they’re doing the right thing, it is completely blind to the fact that they are making things harder for some of …
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