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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 3 Hansard (6 March) . . Page.. 606 ..


Personal explanation

MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, I seek leave to make a personal explanation under standing order 46.

MR SPEAKER: Proceed.

MR CORBELL: In his answer, Mr Smyth indicated that I had refused a briefing from ACT Forests. I would like to clarify that, whilst I was unable to receive that briefing, a member of my staff did.

Aboriginal deaths in custody

Paper

MR HUMPHRIES (Chief Minister, Minister for Community Affairs and Treasurer) (3:49): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present the following paper:

Aboriginal Deaths in Custody-1999-2000 ACT Government Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

I move:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

Mr Speaker, I am very pleased today to table the government's report for 1999-2000 on the implementation of the recommendations of the royal commission. In 1987 the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established to investigate the deaths of 99 Aboriginal people who had died in custody from 1 January 1980 to 31 May 1989.

The commission inquired into how and why those people died and considered the social, cultural, economic and legal factors that contributed to their deaths. The commission's report was tabled in federal parliament on 9 May 1991. The report consisted of 339 recommendations to be implemented by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and recommended that the Commonwealth, state and territory governments should report annually on their implementation of the recommendations.

This report for 1999-2000 is the sixth implementation report prepared by the ACT government and covers the period from December 1998 to the end of the last reporting period, to June 2000. As recommended by the ACT Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council, the proposed report is structured under five key themes as follows:

1. consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in developing policies and programs;

2. law and legislation;

3. preventing deaths in custody and reducing the incarceration rate;

4. addressing the underlying issues; and


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