Indigenous Australians, Social Justice and Legal Reform

Elliott Johnston was a most unusual lawyeraEURO|Coming generations of lawyers can be encouraged to reflect upon the causes of justice and equality that he so powerfully espoused. The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG Twenty-five years after Elliott Johnston's thorough and prescient Report on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, juvenile justice, freedom of speech, racial discrimination, human rights and a referendum on constitutional 'recognition' of Indigenous Australians remain subjects of contestation, national debate and international scrutiny. In this collection, 17 distinguished Indigenous and non-Indigenous jurists, scholars and community leaders show common cause with Johnston. They pursue better ways of understanding social values, justice and equality expressed through issues of native title, incarceration rates, cultural protection, self-determination and rights of Indigenous peoples. They look to the law as a site of hope and an instrument of public education and principled change.