The National Indigenous Legal Conference will be held on 22 and 23 September in Sydney.
This conference is the first national gathering of Indigenous lawyers and law students, and will be attended by Indigenous legal practitioners and law students from across the country as well as being open to anybody who has an interest in Indigenous customary law.
Indigenous solicitors from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory will present papers under the central theme 'customary law', including The Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra OAM and Richard Trudgen, from Nhulunbuy, who will present a session on the resolution of conflict using customary law.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma will provide the keynote address on the integration of Aboriginal customary law in the Australian legal system.
Charles Darwin University (CDU) student Joh-Ann Coates and Indigenous Academic Support Lecturer Veronica McClintic LLB, will be attending the conference.
Veronica says that it is important that CDU-appropriate students and staff attend because over 25 per cent of the NT population is Indigenous, so we must be abreast of the Indigenous legal issues within Australia.
Having completed CDU’s Indigenous Pre-Law program in 2005, Joh-Ann is now in her second year of a Bachelor of Law. Joh-Ann is attending the conference with the assistance of funding provided by the School of Law and Business.
This conference is hosted by the New South Wales Bar Association and Indigenous Barristers’ Trust - The Mum Shirl Fund.