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CANBERRA, March 23 AAP - Immigration and Reconciliation Minister Philip Ruddock appears to be bracing for an adverse report following his appearance before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva overnight. Mr Ruddock faced questioning over mandatory sentencing and the high rate of Aboriginal imprisonment and defended Australia's record on native title. Speaking after the meeting, he said the chairperson of the meeting made it clear the committee did not(not)have a view on mandatory sentencing at this stage. "It is still deliberating and it is a process in which the committee speaks when it has written a report," he said on ABC radio. "There may well be some matters which they want to raise with us for the purpose of the ongoing dialogue and discussions. "In effect, I don't think that would be at all surprising. "I made it very clear that in relation to the mandatory sentencing issue in particular, that this is an issue that is being addressed by correspondence from the attorney (Attorney-General Daryl Williams) and in the meeting that will take place later this week when the commonwealth and states and territory attorneys meet. "In relation to these matters, Australia is not in breach and does not put itself in breach." However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) chairman Geoff Clark objected to Mr Ruddock's evidence that Aborigines controlled land equal in area to Spain and France. Mr Ruddock said this was mostly land to which Aborigines had a traditional attachment. Mr Clark said there was very little return for those lands "if you look at the economics of it". "Indigenous people are still enjoying the worst health and education and those types of things and incarceration," he said on ABC radio. He added that Aboriginal people still lacked resources, the full right to negotiate in terms of the native title legislation and the capacity to instil law and custom in their own communities. That led to discriminatory legislation such as mandatory sentencing and native title laws which did not assist indigenous people overcome their disadvantage, he said. |
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