MAGISTRATE ADJOURNS TRESPASS MATTER.
by Marion Frith
The issue of Aboriginal sovereignty over Australain lands was
one far removed from the normal day-to-day concerns of the ACT
(Australian Capital Territory) Magistrates Court, Magistrate Peter
Dingwall said yesterday.
And indeed the issue, put by the laywer representing four
Aboriginal protesters charged with trespassing and refusing to
leave the old Parliament House building on January 28 was
sandwiched incongruously between the daily grind of drink-driving
and common assault charges and a hysterical woman vehemently
defending her speeding matter.
The protesters, Isabel Edith Coe, of Cowra, Harold Joseph
Williams, of Kambah, Ian Noel Williams, of Northcote, Victoria,
and Sonja Lorelle Laughton (also known as Brown), of Torrens, came
before the magistrate wearing land-rights armbands and headbands
and supported by a crowd of more than 100 which had marched from
Parliament House.
Their lawyer, Charles Kilduff, who took advice from the
chairman of the National Aboriginal and Islander Legal Service
Secretariat, Paul Coe, said the matter of land rights was directly
connected to the charges, and one which would continue to divide
the Australian nation until it was resolved.
He sought a stay of proceedings so the matter of the
Aboriginal peoples' quest for owernship and sovereignty of the
Australian continent could be heard by the International Court of
Justice.
His clients had been occupying land that was rightfully
theirs and the charges were without foundation, he said.
"These matters really go to the issue which has been
simmering for many years, and which is divisive and will continue
to divide the nation," he said.
His clients represented various Aboriginal nations, and he
read from the Declaration of Aboriginal Sovereignty which Mr Coe
had presented to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Robert
Tichner, during the occupation of the building.
That declaration said in part, "This occupation of the site
of the old Parliament building is evidence of our right to self-
government and self-determination in our lands and territories."
Proceedings were rendered somewhat inaudible at one stage as
memebers of the public angrily demanded to be allowed into the
court.
Public seating was full, those standing had been asked to
leave and a police officer had bolted the door.
Mr Dingwall, after hearing lenghty submissions from Mr
Kilduff, said he was prepared to adjourn the matter and would give
two weeks longer than usual to allow Mr Kilduff to make
applications to the Director of public Prosecutions.
However, he said, unless the DPP took "certain action", the
matters were before the court, although he noted Mr Kilduff's
submission that the court had no jurisdiction to hear them.
The matters were listed for mention on April 6.
Outside the court, Mr Coe addressed the crowd and said the
morning's proceedings had been another "step in the right
direction" in a process that had been going on for 25 years, a
statement which was met with resounding applause.