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Palm Island, Australia’s largest Indigenous community, sits 65 kilometres north-east off the Townsville Coast in Queensland. In 1918, the Queensland Government designated the island as a reserve for Indigenous people. Its purpose was to operate as a penal settlement and it quickly earned a reputation as a ‘gulag’, a tropical version of the sort established in the former Soviet Union. Families from over 50 different indigenous families, each with distinctly different languages and culture, were forcibly relocated to the island, premised upon findings of resistance to white Authority dictates in their own communities. Many of the ‘stolen generation’ were brought here. The subsequent treatment of these families is well documented. Rules and regulations governed almost all aspects of everyday life, and extended to wage management, compulsory labour, arbitrary imprisonment, sub-standard housing and healthcare and the prohibition of speaking in languages other than English. While such discriminatory polices are no longer in place today, their legacy remains. A Queensland Department of Public Works Director-General’s briefing note recorded that in an eight month period in 2003, there were 16 youth suicides and eight domestic murders on the island. The community of 3,500 indigenous people were living in about 220 houses, averaging 17 people to a house. The rates of violence - in particular alcohol fuelled conduct - are disproportionately high. The report also recorded that the unemployment rate on the island was around 95%. On 19 November 2004, an Aboriginal man Cameron Doomadgee (referred to in the media as ‘mulrunji’) died in police custody, after being arrested an hour earlier for allegedly swearing at an indigenous police liaison officer. Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley affected this arrest, during the course of which Cameron sustained a fatal injury to his liver. A forensic pathologist later described the injuries as ‘comparable to those of a road trauma victim’ – his spleen had been cleaved almost in half due to the force of the pressure exacted upon his abdomen. The following timeline encapsulates the events following his death, in particular the coronial investigation.
For further information on Palm Island, see:
Throughout this unfortunate process B O E L A W Y E R S provided legal assistance and representation to the Palm Island Aboriginal Council (and members of the community) in their dealings with government and at the coronial inquest. Despite former Premier Peter Beattie’s accusations that lawyers in the firm were “white leeches” to the community, a "pack of thugs" and "hangers on" (see Hansard 23 February 2005 ), the Queensland Law Society and Bar Association have given considerable support to the firm in respect to our involvement which was openly provided on a pro bono basis. Several other lawyers including interstate counsel Dr Sarah Pritchard, Elizabeth Fullerton SC and Bret Walker SC similarly involved themselves. B O E L A W Y E R S also represented John Clumpoint who was charged with being involved in the riots. With the pro bono assistance of Bret Walker SC the ‘banishment condition’ that was initially imposed on Clumpoint by the chief magistrate, and kept in place by Muir J, was finally removed by the Court of Appeal on 2 March 2005. See: The commitment taken by this firm was premised upon our view that what was happening on Palm Island was very wrong at many levels. The State government’s jackboot approach towards this community added to the woes faced by them: the ‘dysfunction’ said to exist on the island was the obvious and direct product of many years of mismanagement by successive State and Federal governments. See (attach something is very wrong) Some media publications follow:
The Courier Mail, 23 March 2007
Following are some of the legal documents associated with our involvement.
The Criminal Proceeds Act 2002 commenced operation in January 2003. Its objects proclaim an intention to recover illegally acquired property from criminals, which could not be an improper legislative motivation. However the question is whether the legislature went inappropriately too far in its zeal. The Act has been described as Draconian by at least 3 justices of the Supreme Court of Queensland in litigation conducted by B O E L A W Y E R S. Most notably in Re Criminal Proceeds Act 2002 [2003] QCA 249, the Queensland Court of Appeal declared one section of the Act (section 30) to be constitutionally invalid.
Before concluding:
The current leading decisions under this Act have been litigated by B O E L A W Y E R S and counsel retained by us. See for example:
We have been pursuing the issues raised by legislation passed by the Queensland Parliament in 1931 - Vagrants Gaming & Other Offences Act 1931 - which, according to statistics held by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and other government agencies, result in the over representation of indigenous people in the criminal justice system. The offences provided by that legislation include disorderly behaviour and ‘insulting’ words. Our client is an itinerant 31 year old Aboriginal woman who was sentenced to 3 weeks gaol for uttering the words “fuck you cunt” at 4 am in a deserted inner city street in the presence of several police officers. However in December 2004 the High Court of Australia refused the applicant special leave. This matter was pursued with the pro bono assistance of several other lawyers and support from the Griffith University Innocence Project. B O E L A W Y E R S are continuing to agitate these issues in further litigation involving new legislation that the State government has used to replace the Vagrants Gaming & Other Offences Act 1931 viz, the Summary Offences Act 2005.
constitutional challenge to s 100 Corrective Services Act 2000 (Qld)
Through the support of a number of lawyers led by Mr PDT Applegarth SC, Ms Susan Anderson, Ms Elizabeth Beal from the Communication Law Centre (Melb) and Mr Sean Brennan from the University of New South Wales, and with some support from the MEAA, Ms Delaney raised constitutional questions about the section's apparent infringement of "free speech". Evidence was called from notable intellectuals including Professor Robert Manne, Mr David Marr, Dr Janet Ransley, Ms Anne Warner, Ms Janne Jensen, Mr Chris Warren, Dr Tamara Walsh and the Honourable Mr William Carter QC.
Incidentally, B O E L A W Y E R S acted for Ms Maphee in her unsuccessful application for special leave to appeal her conviction in the High Court. Mr Bret Walker SC (Syd) and Mr Peter Callaghan SC (Bris) were retained to present oral argument before the High Court.
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