Australia - March 2023

The South Australian government passed a historic bill on 26 March, making it the first Australian jurisdiction to legislate an Indigenous Voice to the Parliament at a state level. The bill was initially drafted based on two rounds of consultations held in Aboriginal communities between August and October 2022. “The Voice” will consist of 46 elected members across the state, representing six regions. Each region will have two representatives that directly communicate with parliament and government departments. The move comes ahead of the national referendum on creating a federal Voice for the parliament, expected to be held later this year. Supporters hope the Voice will serve as a positive example for establishing the national Indigenous Voice.

Sources: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Guardian, Government of South Australia (1), Government of South Australia (2)

On 16 March, Queensland’s government passed new laws aimed at cracking down on youth offenders in response to a series of recent high-profile crimes, making it a crime for a child to breach their bail conditions. The new measures include harsher prison terms for car thieves and will apply to 10- to 17-year-olds. Human rights advocates have condemned the bill and expressed concern that it will harm children’s rights and disproportionally target Indigenous children, who are overrepresented in the justice system. The decision is also criticised for overriding the state's Human Rights Act for the first time.

Sources: The Guardian, Australian Broadcasting Corporation , The Canberra Times

On 15 March, a Sydney court overturned climate protester Deanna Coco’s 15-month prison sentence, stemming from charges of blocking a lane of traffic on Sydney Harbour Bridge on 13 April 2022. The court found Coco had been sentenced on a “false factual basis” wherein the police claimed an ambulance had been obstructed from attending an emergency, which later was refuted and retracted. Human rights advocates welcomed the court’s ruling, albeit noting that the peaceful protester should never have been jailed in the first place. A Senior Australia researcher at Human Rights Watch reiterated that “the New South Wales government should review its problematic anti-protest law and uphold Australia’s international law obligations.”

Sources: BBC News, Twitter, The Guardian