Submissions Library

Alan Coe is a proud Wiradjuri, Gadigal and Yorta Yorta man. This submission is about Mr. Coe’s life experiences, the importance of family and community, what he sees as the key issues facing our mob, and his hopes for the future.

Melbourne Community Legal is an independent community legal centre working for social purpose in the inner Melbourne area. The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service was established in 1973 to provide culturally safe legal and community justice services to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people across Victoria.

This submission, the report Policing COVID-19 in Victoria: Exploring the impact of perceived race in the issuing of COVID-19 fines during 2020, outlines “findings about the injustice First Nations people are experiencing in Victoria and provides evidence of racial profiling by Victoria Police”.

Dr Tamar Hopkins has been working in the area of police accountability and racism since 2005. She was the founding lawyer of the Police Accountability Project at Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre in Melbourne Australia in 2009.

This submission is Dr Hopkins’ PhD Doctorate Thesis submitted in 2022, entitled “Understanding Racial Profiling in Australia.” Drawing on the conceptualisation developed by Epp, Maynard-Moody and Haider-Markel that racial profiling is the disproportionate use of unjustified police power against racial and ethnic minorities, this thesis asks: does racial profiling exist in Australia? Dr Hopkins then develop three methodologies to answer this question.

The submission is published by UNSW and available at http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/100713.

Dr Tamar Hopkins has been working in the area of police accountability and racism since 2005. She was the founding lawyer of the Police Accountability Project at Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre in Melbourne Australia in 2009.

This submission is a report by the Police Stop Data Working Group. Dr Hopkins was the primary researcher and author of the report, which examines eight key practical issues involved in the implementation of a racial profiling data collection scheme in Victoria, Australia and makes 20 recommendations.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) is responsible for preventing and exposing public sector corruption and police misconduct.

This submission provides contextual information about IBAC’s role and purpose and Victoria’s police oversight framework; some of the key resources that guide IBAC’s decision-making and processes in providing oversight of the public sector, including Victoria Police; and explains IBAC’s integrity and oversight functions, including its role, functions and powers relating to police oversight. In setting out Victoria’s police oversight framework, this submission also explains some of the key differences and similarities between IBAC and the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland. This submission contains information about the steps already taken, and to be taken, on IBAC’s actions to improve and change IBAC’s response to complaints from Aboriginal Victorians about public sector corruption and police misconduct.

This submission offers a Whole of Government response to the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s two Issues Papers on systemic injustice experienced by First Peoples in the Victorian criminal justice and child protection systems.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission is an independent statutory authority with functions under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). The role of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission is to protect human rights, to promote fair treatment for all Victorians, and advocate for a diverse and inclusive state.

This submission provides an overview of the current situation in Victoria with respect to protections against race discrimination by public authorities, under the Equal Opportunities Act. The submission then provides a summary of existing protections against race discrimination by public authorities across other Australian jurisdictions. The submission concludes that should Victoria seek to strengthen protections against race discrimination by public authorities under the Equal Opportunities Act, there are appropriate models for reform we may look to within Australia.

Westjustice is a community legal centre that provides free legal and financial advice, representation, education, community development, advocacy, and policy advocacy in the Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay, Wyndham, Brimbank and Melton Local Government Areas.

This submission examines problems and solutions, and proposes reccomendations to issues to related to systemic injustices and cyclic disadvantage; and policing, youth and criminal Justice, incarceration, detention, and the broader legal system.

The Koorie Youth Council is the representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people residing in the state of Victoria.

This submission focuses on the systemic injustices experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people who are involved with – or have been impacted by – the criminal justice system and child protection system in the state of Victoria, both historically and contemporarily.

Since late in 2019 Merryn Stevenson has been working alongside Uncle Alan Coe to support his vision for a facility for Aboriginal men post-prison through the Warrigunya Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation.

This submission outlines the challenges faced in establishing Warrigunya Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation, including the siloed approach taken by government departments, a lack of funding for organisational costs, and departments relying on voluteer labour.