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Report On The Lack Of Access To Justice For Aboriginal Australians

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1. Introduction This report by Aussie Democracy Now on the lack of access to justice for Aboriginal Australians is made to Senator the Hon. Nigel Scullion, Minister for Indigenous Affairs. Aboriginal Australians are overrepresented in the justice system as both victims and offenders. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the 2016 imprisonment rate of Indigenous people was 2 346 per 100 000 people, while the imprisonment rate for non-Indigenous people was 154 per 100 000. This report covers the difficulties Indigenous people face in accessing legal services due to cross-cultural and language barriers. It also provides recommendations to combat the lack of cultural understanding within the legal profession along with recommendations …show more content…

Initially, European invasion meant that Aboriginal people were held accountable to a law they neither understood, nor believed in. Their own laws have throughout history been rejected, ridiculed and ignored. The Stolen Generations are another issue of mistrust. Aboriginal children were removed from their families under government orders, and for many Indigenous people, the presence of government officials is still associated with family separation. Past events, including dispossession of land, separation of families, poverty, racism, unemployment, overrepresentation in the justice system, education standards and loss of identity, country and connection to land, have led to Aboriginal people being disadvantaged when compared to the wider Australian population (NSW Department of Community Services, 2009). The law has not made the Aboriginal community feel safe or secure, instead the law has been a system based on the customs and values of another society that has continuously harmed the Indigenous community. One of the foundations of Australian democracy is equality. To establish a society where the law treats all people fairly and impartially it is necessary that the current disadvantages are recognised and eradicated and substantive equality is …show more content…

However, Aboriginal language interpreters are difficult to source because of a: lack of applications; varied dialects/languages; lack of training opportunities; lack of current interpreters; lack of job security; agencies not realising the need for interpreters; limited awareness of interpreter services. Additionally, when agencies recruit bilingual employees, they tend to stop sourcing qualified interpreters even when they are necessary (Commonwealth Ombudsman,

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