The Aboriginal Legal service in Queensland was originally formed in 1972. This was largely due to the commitment for justice of various community members and the passion that they had for the laws to be equal for Aboriginals. On September 18th of 1974 the organisation became incorporated as a company due to its success in its early stages calling itself the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Torres Strait Islanders ablished it was established in every State and Territory to provide culturally competent legal assistance services by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The ATSILS's role and responsibilities changed over time, during 1996 and 1997 there was a review of the service. The report regarding this review was
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called the “Stretton Report” and it suggested various changes to the financial responsibilities of the organisation, the monitoring of administration and the provision of service to the clients. This helped ensure a professional and accountable service, by doing this it became a new organisation called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (QLD South) Ltd and integrated under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in 2005. At this time the new organisation took on the service needs of all the Southern Queensland area and had now expanded to having 17 offices. In 2007 ATSILS went National and was established as the NATSILS.
Initially acting as a way to share the best practice in provision of legal assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Within the last few years it has grown and evolved into a body that not only deals with service provision but also has expanded its influence to include broader issues. In 2008 the organisation ATSILS took on service delivery for all mainland Queensland however this did not include Northern Peninsula Area and the Torres Strait Islands. As of October first 2011 ATSILS was able to grow again and assumed the service delivery role to the Northern Peninsular Area and the Torres Strait …show more content…
Islands. Currently the ATSILS here in Queensland has 25 offices and a team of over 190 staff across the state. There is a wealth of both experience and knowledge in the fields of Criminal, Civil and family Law. In recent years the growth in Law Reform, Prisoner Support and Community Legal Education has made it possible to provide a more diverse range of related services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and their families across the State. This development and growth wouldn't have been possible without the services of the Board and staff members as well as the support of the various communities throughout the decades. ATSILS, through law reform and policy development it aims to rectify legal policies and practices that unfairly and unjustly impact the legal rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Through stakeholder relationships, a productive community and partnerships they aim to provide advice, representation and deliver quality legal assistance. There is twenty-four hour assistance at police stations. Some of the services offered are Criminal, Family and Civil Law representation and advice. Prisoner ThoughCare Services to address recidivism as well as Coronial and Public Sector Monitoring. As well as Law Reform, Community Legal Education and Royal Commission (into Institutional Response to Sexual Abuse). They have a means and merit test, to ensure that the limited resources available are put towards the applicants in the greatest need. Applicants that undergo these means and merit tests, dependent on the results, will fall into three categories. One of which would grant the applicant the service for free and another that would be subject to payment on a sliding scale towards the cost of
assistance. The ATSILS is a non-profit, community based organisation funded and contracted by the Commonwealth Attorney General's Department (AGD) as well as the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMC – Community Safety Branch). The funding from the AGD is so that the ATSILS can provide services in areas of Law Reform, Community Legal Education and Coronial and Public Sector Monitoring. Funding from the PMC is mainly to provide services in the area of the Prisoner Throughcare Program. Recently, with the ATSILS delivering services in accordance with the Australian Government's Indigenous Legal Assistance Program the funding cycle with the AGD has gone to a five-year funding cycle from a three-year funding cycle. ATSILS deals with a large range of historical, geographical, cultural, legal and socio-economic challenges that negatively impact upon the Indigenous population. Some of the main things that this organisation does is ensure that the legal services are in accordance with the articles of the United Nation's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Ensuring the efficient implementation of all recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody beyond the social and bureaucratic apathy. To assist their clients ATSILS has easy to access information on legal information provided as fact sheets on their main website. The information here is available at any time and is aimed at enhancing the understanding of the justice system. A few fact sheets that I believe to be important to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the Autopsies and Retaining Organs and Tissue, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Child Placement Principle – Placing a Child in Care and the Prisoner ThroughCare Program. ATSILS also deals with the ongoing impacts of colonisation the fight back response, in particular, inter-generation psychological trauma, extreme socio-economic disadvantage and scaring that has lead to anger, low self esteem, frustration and anti-social behaviour in their clients. They also try to improve awareness, understanding and cultural appreciation within the justice system as well as the ongoing potential threat of changes in government public policy and direction.
It would not be inconsistent with the principle of equality before the law that, where members of the Aboriginal race have special needs, those should be recognised by special rules laid down by the law. Further, the law is flexible enough to allow the courts to consider the special situation of an Aboriginal party where that is relevant. As the courts have recognised, the sentencing of Aboriginal offenders presents particular difficulties. Judges, in an attempt to do justice in discharging the difficult role of sentencing tribal and semi-tribal Aboriginal persons, have gone further. Clearly the ordinary criminal law is capable of facing these difficulties. It is neither necessary, nor desirable, to apply to the Aboriginal peoples the rules of their customary law rather than the general law. The attempt to uphold Aboriginal customary law is one aspect of the notion that the Aboriginal peoples will benefit if they continue to be treated as a class separate from the rest of the community, which must necessarily be a dependent and disadvantaged class.
Throughout the history of Canada the indigenous population of the country have been voiceless. They have been both suppressed and oppressed by the Federal and various Provincial governments within Canada. Many organizations tried to provide a voice for the native population but failed in their attempt. These organizations eventually merged together to become what is now known as The Assembly of First Nations. The Assembly of First Nations gives voice to the issues and problems facing the different components of the aboriginal community in Canada.
The following is an adjusted version of an argument I presented in Critical Thinking last semester. My opinion has not changed, just expanded.. :)
...rial covered in the unit Aboriginal People that I have been studying at the University of Notre Dame Fremantle, Aboriginal people have had a long history of being subjected to dispossession and discriminatory acts that has been keep quite for too long. By standing together we are far more likely to achieve long lasting positive outcomes and a better future for all Australians.
The merits of both the adversarial and inquisitorial system will be explored throughout this paper. The Australian rule of law best describes as all law should be applied equally and fairly. The five vital operations of the rule of law includes fairness, rationality, predictability, consistency, and impartially. The adversarial system adopts these operations by having a jury decide on the verdict and the judge being an impartial decision maker. In contrast, the inquisitorial system relies heavily on the judge. This can result in abusive power and bias of the judge when hearing evidence and delivering verdicts. The operations of the rule of law determine why the rule of law is best served by the adversarial system in Australia.
Native Americans lived on the land that is now called America, but when white settlers started to take over the land, many lives of Native Americans were lost. Today, many people believe that the things that have been done and are being done right now, is an honor or an insult to the Natives. The choices that were made and being made were an insult to the Native Americans that live and used to live on this land, by being insulted by land policies, boardings schools and modern issues, all in which contain mistreatment of the Natives. The power that the settlers and the people who governed them had, overcame the power of the Natives so the settlers took advantage and changed the Natives way of life to the
The actions of the State and Federal Government(s) have being questionable over the centuries since the ‘colonization’ of Australia, but as Australia becomes more of a multicultural and multi-racial society Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people acceptance is rising. The disadvantages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face is decreasing slowly by the government as introduce legislation and form commissions. There will always be problems for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in relation to housing, but the Australia is heading in the right direction to correct this problem and provide a much better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the whole of Australia.
Barsh, R. 2005. Aboriginal peoples and the justice system: Report of the national round table on Aboriginal justice issues (Book Review). Great Plains Research, 359-362.
Compare and contrast the arguments that have been advanced for and against the incorporation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Law in the criminal justice system.
Australia’s Indigenous people are thought to have reached the continent between 60 000 and 80 000 years ago. Over the thousands of years since then, a complex customary legal system have developed, strongly linked to the notion of kinship and based on oral tradition. The indigenous people were not seen as have a political culture or system for law. They were denied the access to basic human right e.g., the right to land ownership. Their cultural values of indigenous people became lost. They lost their traditional lifestyle and became disconnected socially. This means that they were unable to pass down their heritage and also were disconnected from the new occupants of the land.
NSW Government 2014, Courts & Tribunal Services Attorney General & Justice, viewed 30 April 2014, .
The act established the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (Care Inspectorate). The SSSC ensures the standards of care practice by the workforce is raised through continuous and rigorous training programmes and education, and the Care Inspectorate, which has since been changes to Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) under the Public Service Reform (Scotland) Act 2011, inspects care services to ensure they are meeting the required National Care Standard set out by legislation. (Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland. 2016) (Community Care and Criminal Justice.
The Native American Reservation system was a complete failure. This paper focuses on the topics of relocation, Native American boarding schools, current conditions on today’s reservations, and what effects these have had on the Native American way of life.
Cultural competence is a skill essential to acquire for healthcare providers, especially nurses. Cooperating effectively and understanding individuals with different backgrounds and traditions enhances the quality of health care provided by hospitals and other medical facilities. One of the many cultures that nurses and other health care providers encounter is the American Indian or Native American culture. There are hundreds of different American Indian Tribes, but their beliefs and values only differ slightly. The culture itself embodies nature. To American Indians, “The Earth is considered to be a living organism- the body of a higher individual, with a will and desire to be well. The Earth is periodically healthy and less healthy, just as human beings are” (Spector, 2009, p. 208). This is why their way of healing and symbolic items are holistic and from nature.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been the first nations, which represented the whole Australian population, for centuries. However, the continuous European colonization has severely affected these peoples and, over the decades, their unique values and cultures, which enriched the life of Australian nation and communities, were not respected and discriminated by numerous restrictive policies. As a result, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have turned into the voiceless minority of the Australian population. Fortunately, in recent years, these issues became the concern of the Australian government, promoting a slight improvement in the well being of native Australians. Nowadays, there are numerous social work