Amnesty International Report 1994 - Australia

Two Aboriginal prisoners died in custody allegedly after being ill-treated by police. In July the Australian Government informed the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations that it had appointed an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. The Commissioner is to report annually to the government on Australia's performance in the area of indigenous rights, both nationally and internationally. Five Aboriginal prisoners died in custody during 1993, two of them after they were allegedly ill-treated by police. Barry Raymond Turbane died in April at the Arthur Gorrie Remand and Reception Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, within a week of being arrested for alleged unlaw-ful use of a motor vehicle. He was found hanged from socks tied above his cell door. His wife alleged that he had been beaten by police officers at the time of his arrest and other relatives alleged that police had beaten him in jail, and they accused prison authorities of negligence. In November Daniel Yock died in police custody after allegedly being severely beaten by police officers in Brisbane. Investigations were opened into both deaths but had not concluded by the end of the year. In February Amnesty International issued a report, Australia: A criminal justice system weighted against Aboriginal people. It expressed concern that conditions in certain detention facilities may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and might have contributed to a high rate of deaths in custody among Aboriginal prisoners, who continued to be imprisoned in grossly disproportionate numbers. It urged the Australian authorities to closely examine the patterns of incarceration of Aboriginal people, and to give particular consideration to elements of the criminal justice system which appear to discriminate against Aboriginal people and contribute to their high levels of imprisonment. In April the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory responded at length to the report, saying that "persons are taken into protective custody only if they are seriously affected by liquor or refuse to comply with police direction regarding their drinking in public". In May John Fahey, the Premier of the State of New South Wales, indicated to Amnesty International that the New South Wales Summary Offences Act 1988 - one of the laws Amnesty International had asked the authorities to examine - was under review. In 1992 Amnesty International had appealed for the repeal of sections of the Tasmanian Criminal Code Act which allow for the prosecution and imprisonment of consenting adults who engage in homosexual acts in private (see Amnesty International Report 1993). In June Ray Groom, the Premier of Tasmania, informed Amnesty International that there was insufficient consensus in the community for the repeal of those sections but that prosecutions under the provisions were rare. In November Amnesty International wrote to the state governments of Queensland and Victoria and inquired about the nature and results of the official investigations into the deaths of Aboriginal prisoners including Barry Turbane and Daniel Yock. In an oral statement to the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations in July, Amnesty International included reference to its concerns in Australia.