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Override sentencing laws: Melham
OPPOSITION Aboriginal Affairs spokesman Daryl Melham says the federal Government should override mandatory sentencing laws to save Australia's international reputation. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has said mandatory sentencing laws discriminate against indigenous Australians and conflict with UN conventions on human rights. They've issued a report calling on the government to override the laws. Mr Melham says the report is factual and balanced and makes well-founded criticisms of incarceration rates of indigenous Australians and of native title laws. He says the government has no choice but to override the laws in the face of the country's diminishing reputation abroad. Mr Melham says it's hypocritical for the government to have intervened and overturned euthanasia laws but not mandatory sentencing laws. He says it costs the Australian taxpayer $120,000 a year for every juvenile jailed and $60,000 for every adult. |
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FAIRA
Aboriginal Corporation |