10 December 2000
Human Rights Medal and Awards 2000
Indigenous Law Bulletin wins Print Award
A publication addressing topical and important issues of Indigenous law from mandatory sentencing to traditional fishing rights was the print category winner.
The Indigenous Law Bulletin, published by the Indigenous Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, impressed the judges with its depth and clarity and the effort made to publish information on issues often misunderstood. The judges said it advanced the observance of human rights for indigenous Australians and could be used by journalists to inform their writing on indigenous issues, by legal practitioners and the public. It tackles the issues that will be front and centre of the debate for indigenous Australians in the next decade and beyond, they said.
Examples of issues covered by the Law Bulletin are mandatory sentencing in the Northern Territory (in a story called "Preventing Crime or 'Warehousing' the Underprivileged?"), Murrandoo Yanner's High Court case on traditional hunting rights (following the killing of crocodiles in the Gulf of Carpentaria) and a special edition on water rights including the Croker Island native title appeal to the Full Federal Court.
Greg Bearup's Mean Streets, a feature about Sydney's homeless in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Weekend, was Highly Commended. It tells the story of the "unforgiving city" and the desperate search for shelter by those facing hard times. He spent several nights wandering Sydney streets talking to the people whose eyes are rarely met by passing pedestrians - from the family evicted after a bad business decision to the 80-year-old homeless pensioner hospitalised for three weeks after being found suffering from exposure and other illnesses on an icy June night.
One judge said the story illuminated a problem "that everyone knew about but did not know the extent of - or the horror". The judges also made a special mention of the powerful photographs that accompanied the story, taken by Herald photographer Dean Sewell but not entered for an award.
Media contacts: Janine MacDonald on (02) 9284 9880 or 0412 783 631 Margie Cook on (02) 9284 9677 or 0418 637 230
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and Equal Opportunity Commission. Last updated 2 December 2001.
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