Natives press the point for law of spear

Australia's judicial system is coming under review as Aborigines step up calls for the reinstatement of their traditional system of justice, replacing jail and fines with ancient tribal punishments such as spearings and banishment to remote islands and desert camps. They claim that under the present system they are often punished twice - once under official 'whitefella's' law and again, after they return to their communities, by tribal elders. Well-known Aboriginal artist Jimmy Pike, for instance, who comes from the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia, spent six years in jail for murdering a man, but also was speared as part of a tribal 'payback' ritual. Many Aborigines say they would rather endure traditional punishments, such as being speared in the legs or given a severe beating with a nulla nulla, or wooden fighting club, than spend time in prison under a system they do not understand. Aborigines continue to crowd Australia's jails, and many take their own lives while in prison. In Western Australia, an Aborigine is 52 times more likely to be arrested than a white person and 20 times more likely to die in prison. In the Northern Territory, which has a large indigenous population, 69 per cent of prison inmates are Aboriginal. Each prisoner costs Australia about HK$220,000 a year. Now there are moves to introduce elements of Aboriginal law into the mainstream system. In New South Wales, a scheme has been introduced in the coastal towns of Kiama and Nowra whereby Aboriginal elders advise magistrates on what sort of punishment should be meted out. Known as 'circle sentencing', it is based a Canadian model for dealing with indigenous Indians and Inuit. In August, a two-day legal forum in the Aboriginal community of Nhulunbuy, in the Northern Territory, called for greater recognition of Aboriginal law. In Western Australia, the state Law Reform Commission is about to embark on a three-year investigation into Aboriginal law. It will explore the recommendations of a 1990 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which called for recognition of Aboriginal legal codes. The director of the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service, Veronica McClintic, who is Aboriginal, said it was time elements of traditional Aboriginal justice were reintroduced. 'Putting Aborigines in prison is so detrimental,' she said. 'Often they speak little or no English and feel completely isolated culturally. You lock them up and they become angry and negative. They come out of prison hardened criminals.' A traditional alternative to prison would be to send offenders to remote wilderness camps in the bush, where they would be made to live a spartan lifestyle, hunting and fishing, and learn about Aboriginal culture and laws. 'It's all about getting offenders to look within themselves and start to rehabilitate,' Ms McClintic said. One of the most brutal traditional punishments involves the offender being held down and speared repeatedly in the legs, ensuring maximum pain but little risk of death. 'I think it's something that really should be looked at,' Ms McClintic said. 'Although, if you give people free licence to do that sort of thing, it can create more problems than it solves.' Recently, in a remote community in Western Australia, a young Aboriginal man, Damian Richtor, was speared once in each leg because he was suspected of murder. When a white police officer arrived on the scene and helped Richtor to his feet, Aboriginal elders shouted 'he can walk, he can walk' and rushed over to spear him 10 more times. The officer, Senior Constable Kyran O'Donnell, said Richtor accepted his brutal punishment in silence. 'Damian didn't yell out once, not once,' he said. Less serious criminals would be made to help their victims in practical ways. A vandal, for instance, would have to clean up the mess he had left, a burglar would have to give money or goods to the people he stole from. But many Australians are profoundly uneasy at the prospect of having two legal systems within one country and say the issue is potentially explosive. Critics say adopting Aboriginal legal codes would deny indigenous people the protection of Western law, and point to the high rates of domestic violence in many Aboriginal communities. Peter Hennessy, director of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission, said sanctioning beatings or spearings could place Australia in contravention of its international human rights obligations. 'There are people who say, 'You simply can't do this, it will create two systems and it is outrageous'. I think it's unlikely Australian law will ever authorise someone being speared. But to a large extent, judges and magistrates already informally recognise Aboriginal justice,' Mr Hennessy said. 'They will often take into account the fact that an Aborigine has already been speared or whacked on the head with a nulla nulla, and they will reduce their sentencing in light of that. That's been going on for years.'