When culture becomes a crime, who are the real criminals?

Fisheries Management Act: ‘most racist act this government has ever done’

NSW authorities continue to prosecute First Nations Peoples for fishing in their own waters – despite Native Title provisions already protecting this inherit right.

The Parliamentary inquiry into Indigenous cultural fishing rights will examine why legal amendments to the Fisheries Management Act has not commenced almost thirteen years after it was passed into law.

Data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics reveals Indigenous Australians are fifteen-times more represented in fishing criminal convictions, with 405 charges issued between 2011 to 2021. The NSW Council for Civil Liberties reinforces that Yuin people make up just 4% of the population on the South Coast, yet account for 80% of imprisonments for fishing.

Danny Chapman, a Walbunga man from Bateman’s Bay and chair of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council said, “It’s an absolute disgrace...we’re up against a racist government that chooses to ignore our rights and even the Commonwealth law.”

Section 211 of the Native Title Act enshrines the right of Aboriginal people to hunt, fish and gather for non-commercial ends. However, legal studies by UNSW examining the 1994 Mason v Tritton case prove the evidentiary burden, “length and cost of proceedings” which make Native Title claims ineffective and easily dismissed.

Legislative changes to Section 21AA as proposed in the Fisheries Management Amendment Bill 2009 would allow Indigenous fishing without regulations, as stipulated through Native Title and “stop us [Yuin people] from being criminalised” (Wally Stewart, Walbunga man and advocate for the South Coast Aboriginal fishing rights group).

Governmental failure to enact change and place an immediate moratorium on all prosecutions have seen Chapman’s sons cumulatively fined $26 000. He describes “Would you teach your own kids to steal cars...that’s what the government is forcing us.”

“This is part of who we are...and if we lose our culture, we lose our identity.”

This reality becomes more palpable when considering Yuin elder; Keith Nye’s imminent court hearing, after already facing seventeen months imprisoned for trying to sell 128 abalone. Comparatively, the industry caught a colossal 100 tonnes last year commercially priced at $170 per kilogram. The Aboriginal Fishing Advisory Council maintains “a NativeTitle right to fish, even commercially, shouldn’t be regulated” when compared to “hypocritical” (AIATSAS) industry practices.

While politicians Mick Veitch and David Shoeberg have called on the Perrottet government to finally stop this ongoing and illegitimate incarceration of First Nations people – his notable silence has allowed the Fisheries Management Act to become “the most racist act this government has ever done” (Stewart).