Australian Human Rights Commission Australia and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Shadow report to the CERD Committee – 8 July 2010 Halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians within a decade; • Ensure all four-year-olds, including those in remote communities, have access to early childhood education, within five years. For further information on COAG’s National Agreements and National Partnership Agreements for meeting COAG’s objectives see the COAG website. At http://www.coag.gov.au/. 6 Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation. At http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/pubs/healing/Pages/default.aspx (viewed 18 May 2010). 7 United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Australia, UN Doc. CERD/C/AUS/CO/14 (14 April 2005), para 24. At http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CERD.C.AUS.CO.14.En?Opendocument (viewed 3 May 2010). 8 Kartinyeri v Commonwealth (1998) 195 CLR 337, 411 9 Kruger v Commonwealth (1997) 190 CLR 1. The High Court has since held that the acquisition of property pursuant to laws made under s122 are subject to the guarantee of just terms compensation as required by s51(xxxi) (Wurridjal v The Commonwealth of Australia (2009) HCA 2). 10 See, eg, Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, Roadmap to Reconciliation (2000). At http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/car/2000/10/pg3.htm (viewed 18 May 2010). See also Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Social Justice Report 2000, (2000) ch 4; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Social Justice Report 2008, (2008), ch 2. 11 The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people has made similar recommendations (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people Addendum: The Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Australia, UN Doc A/HRC/15/ (2010). At http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/indigenous/rapporteur/countryreports.htm (viewed 18 May 2010)). 12 Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives (8 February 2010) p 97 (The Hon Tony Abbot, Leader of the Opposition). 13 Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Parliament of Australia, Native Title Amendment Bill (No.2) 2009 [Provisions] (2010), para 357. 14 Aurukun Shire Council & Anor v. CEO Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing in the Department of Treasury [2010] QCA 37 (1 March 2010), para 33. 15 Northern Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance, A Policy Statement on Northern Australian Indigenous Water Rights, (2009) at http://www.nailsma.org.au/projects/water_policy.html (viewed 26 March 2010); Goldfields Land and Sea Council, Mining Policy: Our Land is Our Future, (2008) at http://www.glc.com.au/ (viewed 26 March 2010). 16 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations on United States of America, UN Doc CERD/C/USA/CO/6 (2008) para 29. 17 This was also a recommendation made by Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people in his 2010 report on Australia (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Addendum: The Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Australia, UN Doc A/HRC/15/ (2010). At http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/indigenous/rapporteur/countryreports.htm (viewed 18 May 2010)). 18 This has also been recommended by: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Social Justice Report 2008 (2008), ch 4; the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant, Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Australia, UN Doc. E/C.12/AUS/CO/4 (June 2009) at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/cescrs42.htm (viewed 18 May 2010)); and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Addendum: Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Australia (2010), UN Doc A/HRC/15, p 30 at • 52