27 February 2004
Indigenous People and public space information share
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) President John von Doussa QC will meet with a range of community groups and local authorities over the coming months to listen to various perspectives on the issue of Indigenous People and public space.
"At the Commission we understand that there are a wide range of views about how public spaces should be used, the laws that affect their use and the way in which these laws are implemented," said Mr von Doussa.
"Local or state governments who create these laws may have different attitudes about the use of public space to those of the communities who use the space most often.
"We are particularly concerned to hear different perspectives on whether these laws might have a disproportionate and adverse impact on Indigenous communities."
This issue has been of concern to the Commission for a number of years. Over the past few years, acting Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Bill Jonas has spoken about this issue with community representatives and with representatives of local and State governments.
The upcoming meetings endeavour to follow up on some of this previous work, by providing the Commission with an opportunity to learn more about what is happening around Australia.
"The Commission has a number of functions, apart from its complaint handling functions, which allow it to address human rights issues. However, at this point, the main aim is to listen to the complete range of attitudes so that we can understand these issues more comprehensively," Mr von Doussa said.
"We will then be in a better position to determine what role we can and should play in dealing with this issue."
Last updated 27 February 2001.
