Monday, 15 March 2010
NT communities must have same protections as the rest of Australia
Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner have today called on the Australian Parliament to ensure that residents of the 73 prescribed communities in the Northern Territory have the same protections against discrimination as the rest of Australia.
Making the call ahead of the Senate’s scheduled debate this week of the government’s Welfare Reform and Reinstatement of Racial Discrimination Act Bill 2009 and other Bills, Commissioners Graeme Innes and Mick Gooda said while the government’s proposed amendments should be passed, it was just the beginning of restoring full protections.
“People who live in the 73 prescribed communities that are part of the ongoing Northern Territory intervention deserve the same protections as the rest of Australia,” Race Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes said.
“These people have been treated differently from the rest of Australia for nearly three years now since the operation of the Racial Discrimination Act was suspended as part of the former government’s Northern Territory Emergency Response intervention.
“While the Bill the government has proposed does not fully reinstate the RDA, it takes us further in the direction we should be heading and for this reason it should be passed,” he said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said it was a disgrace that the residents of these communities have been treated differently from the rest of Australia.
“For nearly three years, these people have had no protections and no avenue for redress for any injury or disadvantage they have suffered on the basis of race as a result of the Northern Territory Emergency Response legislation,” Commissioner Gooda said.
“The suspension of the RDA and the NT Anti-Discrimination Act has meant that very few complaints have been received about any violation of rights – not just those violations that occur under the intervention.
“It is a very serious problem when laws designed to protect the most vulnerable are damaged in such a way and it’s a problem with long term implications that will require concerted efforts from government to rebuild faith among Indigenous communities.
“It is time to bring these 73 communities back into the rest of Australia and reinstate the RDA completely,” Commissioner Gooda said.
“The Bill before the Senate this week should be passed as a first step towards completely reinstating the RDA in the Northern Territory and giving these people back their rights,” Commissioner Innes said.
Media contact: Louise McDermott on 0419 258 597 02 9284 9851
