While celebrating the announcement of the nation's first Indigenous Supreme Court judge as "a move in the right direction" and being "fortuitous timing" with National Reconciliation Week, the Australian Law Council says more work is still needed to help boost diversity and representation.
Lincoln Crowley QC was announced on Friday, the start of Reconciliation Week, by the Queensland Government as one of the state's latest justices, making him the first Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person appointed to a Supreme Court in Australia.
Mr Crowley, a Warramunga man from the Northern Territory who grew up in North Queensland, has served as Crown Prosecutor for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and was appointed as Queen's Counsel in 2018.
He was called to the bar in Sydney in 2003 and has specialised in criminal law, inquests and inquiries, and related civil proceedings and litigation.
Among his accolades is the Australian Bar Association's 2017 Indigenous Barrister Scholarship.
Mr Crowley, who will join the bench on June 13, is also the chairman of the Bar Association of Queensland's Indigenous Barristers Committee.
Tass Liveris, Law Council of Australia president, said Mr Crowley "is highly deserving of this appointment".
"On behalf of the Australian legal profession, I congratulate him on this significant personal and professional achievement - an achievement that also makes history," Mr Liveris said.
"Mr Crowley joins a distinguished group of First Nations judges and magistrates who make a significant difference to the Australian community, legal profession and justice system.
"While clearly there is much work still to be done, today's announcement marks a significant milestone."
Mr Liveris said the limited available data suggests the representation of First Nations peoples across the profession "continues to sit well below population parity".
"First Nations peoples make up close to 3 per cent of the total Australian population, but probably less than 1 per cent of solicitors, barristers and judicial officers," he said.
Staying with the theme of Reconciliation Week, artist Danie Mellor has depicted First Nations peoples' experiences in Queensland in large-scale works that demand the gazes of viewers and prompt conversation about the country's history.
Mr Mellor has two artworks, which have been selected from hundreds of entries, to be finalists in this year's Wynne Prize and Sir John Sulman Prize.
The contemporary artist, who has Aboriginal heritage with Scottish and Irish settler ancestry, said he was honoured to be exhibited with other artists who brought their own interpretations to the exhibitions' themes.
To other news, the effect of the COVID pandemic on children's education is not over, The Smith Family has warned.
A new survey from the charity has found one in two parents and carers feel the pandemic is still making learning difficult for their children.
It comes as the charity begins its latest Winter Appeal, hoping to raise $5.4 million nationally to support 12,000 students through mentoring and after school programs.
Meanwhile the dispute between NSW paramedics and the state government about pay and conditions has escalated, with the former refusing to take patients' billing details during the next five days as part of their industrial action.
The action was set for Monday but brought forward after the government launched a challenge in the Industrial Relations Commission.
The paramedics will also not report key performance indicators and will not leave their home stations from 5.45pm on Saturday.
Also in NSW is grandfather of eight Richard Van Pijlen leading the way to help the environment.
The 67-year-old began a walk form Sydney to Perth in to raise funds for Landcare to plant one million trees.
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*This edition of The Informer was written by The Canberra Times reporter Toby Vue. If you'd like to show your support for the team behind The Informer, why not forward us to a friend?
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