Wednesday 10 December 2003 - Release No. 4
Justice Mullighan wins Human Rights Law Award
The 2003 Human Rights Award in Law has been awarded to Supreme Court of South Australia Senior Judge, Justice Mullighan, at a ceremony in Sydney today.
Sponsored by the Law Council of Australia, nominations in this year’s Law Award covered a range of activities undertaken by individuals and organisations in the promotion and advancement of human rights in Australia through the practice of law.
The rights of Indigenous people, refugees, people with disabilities, homeless people and pay equity in relation to childcare workers were some of the issues covered in the entries.
Since the early nineties Justice Mullighan has been actively promoting cultural awareness amongst the judiciary and magistracy in South Australia and supporting innovation in the sentencing of Aboriginal defendants.
He has chaired the cultural awareness committee of the court since 1995. This committee has managed seminars, and community justice workshops through which cultural awareness within the judiciary is promoted.
In 1997, he instigated a Law and Justice Conference which was hosted by the traditional communities of the Anangu Pitantjatjara Yankunyjatara (APY) Lands, bringing together Aboriginal law men and a group of judges and magistrates. He has advocated for Aboriginal court interpreters and has promoted models of restorative and community justice.
Following the 1997 meeting, the Supreme Court in 2002 sat on APY lands;
the State Coroner conducted inquests in to the deaths of three petrol
sniffers on APY lands; and the Federal Court heard APY native title case
there.
Justice Mullighan has been active in nominating Aboriginal Justices of
the Peace and has examined traditional Aboriginal ways of dealing with
offending behaviours. He has championed Aboriginal Reconciliation among
his peers and within the general South Australian community.
The judges highly commended The Centre for Advocacy Support and Education for Refugees (CASE) - a community legal centre in Perth which has provided legal assistance for refugees; Erskine Rodan - a long time advocate for human rights in the area of immigration, and; Simone Bingham – who achieved pay equity for child care workers in local government.
Last updated 21 June 2004.
