COAG Pragmatism

CUSTOMARY law will no longer be used as an excuse for sexual abuse and violence in indigenous communities under an agreement struck at yesterday’s talks. Now there’s a statement for the books but as expected the usual subjects show how out of touch they are with the country. Stanhope, the ACT leader waves the flag for all things left with this loopy statement;

“It is very important in the context of advancing reconciliation and issues in relation to indigenous disadvantage that we not seek to identify aspects of Aboriginal culture and customary law as incidences, or sources of some of the behaviours,” he said.

Culture and customary law has always had an impact on behaviour…black or white.

“It is important that we separate the causes of indigenous disadvantage from issues such as customary law, cultural background. The ACT has a particular position in relation to the role and place in sentencing courts to take account of issues such as cultural background.”

There are alot of causes for indigenous disadvantage, the main one being too many people have listened to this type of codswallop for too long. Others are most defenitely issues such as customary law and cultural background. You know, the type of customary law and cultural background that lead to the celebrated case in the Territory of a guy who raped a female on the basis that she had been promised to him and she was his to deal with as he pleased. The ‘Learned sentencing judge’ put him away for one month! There exists an overriding consideration in the trial of tribal law and customs that conflict with Australian and Territory law.

Upon the respondent’s pleas of guilty, the learned sentencing judge imposed a sentence of five months imprisonment on Count 1 and 19 months imprisonment on Count 2 to be served cumulatively upon the sentence of five months imposed on Count 1, making a total period to be served of 24 months, but ordered that those sentences be suspended after the respondent had served one month upon the respondent entering upon his own recognisance of $250 to be of good behaviour for a period of two years. It was a further condition of the suspension of the sentences, that for the period of two years, the respondent not communicate, directly or indirectly, with the child, SS.

On appeal this was increased to 18 months. The case is old hat now but still serves as a good reason to agree with the thrust of the COAG meeting. The ordinary punters in Australia take an extremely dim view of cases such as this one. Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) recognize themselves that there is a problem

Tragically, some sympathetic magistrates who are generally aware that there are ‘too many Aboriginal men in jail’ are inclined to give light custodial sentences to Aboriginal perpetrators of violence and abuse. It takes great courage and determination on the part of an Aboriginal woman, family and community to pursue a case of this kind in the courts: inadequate sentences are a devastating outcome.

Simply put, there are too many Aboriginal men in jail because too many of them committ jailable offences. They do it for a number of reasons, few, if any, related to cultural or customary law issues. Excessive consumpion of grog is not an age old custom steeped in millenia of tribal tradition although general gender relationship may be. For too long we have listened to Stanhope and his fellow travellers. Nugget Coombes, Whitlam, Hawke and Keating set up the ‘Noble Savage’ outstations condemning them all to mark time in the 19th century while the rest of the population marched steadily ahead. The concept is ‘broke’…lets work towards fixing it