I can't believe this most blatantly discriminatory law is still on the books anywhere. In NSW the court found that swearing was 'police culture' and accepted but Aboriginal Australians regularly end up in jail for it. It is even more discriminatory for the very people who live protected within 'police culture' enforce these laws against Aboriginal people. Trudy ABC News Wed, 29 Mar 2000 10:21 CDT LOCAL NEWS : Alice Springs Push for infringement notice case to go before full bench A Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid lawyer has told the Territory Supreme Court he wants a test case against the Territory's infringement notice scheme heard by the full bench. The legal aid service is mounting a case to prove the enforcement scheme is unlawful and discriminates against Aboriginal people. The lawyer, Kim Kilvington, raised concerns over the system's fairness last December, after becoming aware of a 20-year-old man who had tried to harm himself in custody while serving four days on a warrant for a swearing offence. Mr Kilvington told Justice Trevor Riley many people had been jailed under the scheme - one man for 30 days - without ever having appeared before a court or being found guilty of the offence for which the infringement notice was issued. He says an itinerant lifestyle and lack of English means many Aboriginal people go to jail because they have neither read, nor understood a letter which follows the notice, about their options. Mr Kilvington says the case raises constitutional questions. © 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation -- _________________________________ Truth is a pathless land. --- Krishnamurti ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
