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Another Mabo family member making her mark on rights

Artist, youth worker and activist Boneta-Marie Mabo has been appointed to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council.

May 28, 2021, updated May 28, 2021
Boneta-Marie Mabo for BSAF19 at Howard Smith Wharves. (Supplied)

Boneta-Marie Mabo for BSAF19 at Howard Smith Wharves. (Supplied)

Mabo is the granddaughter of the late Eddie Mabo, the noted land rights campaigner whose High Court victory will again be recognised on Mabo Day next week.

Council chair John Robertson, a retired judge, said Mabo had already influenced its work through her role on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel and he expected her contribution to the council to be “invaluable”.

“Given her background working with the local community and Sisters Inside, I am excited to collaborate with Neta-Rie on the Council’s current projects, and hear her ideas on how we could better inform, engage and advise Queenslanders on sentencing matters moving forward,” Robertson said.

Robertson said her appointment would broaden the council’s understanding of the impact of sentencing on First Nations people and their communities.

In a tweet, Mabo said she was the “second First Nations person in the council but first First Nations woman”.

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“Representation matters especially when First Nations Women are the fastest growing imprisoned people globally,” Mabo said.

Her appointment, announced earlier this week and gazetted today, came after the council reported on trends in sentencing in Queensland. In a 14-year period, Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples made up 21.7 per cent of all sentenced male offenders, and 31.1 per cent of sentenced female offenders.

The council is currently reviewing the serious violent offenders scheme.

The Palaszczuk government is consulting on a treaty between indigenous and non-indigenous Queenslanders, and this week, on National Sorry Day, announced the creation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland.

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