Paul Coe
historyPaul Coe (b. c1949), a Wiradjuri man, is an Australian Aboriginal activist. He was the son of Leslie Coe, reveals his father was Leslie Coe, at 16 he became a prefect at Cowra High School while studying HSC. also Dawn is at »http://www1.aiatsis.gov.au/dawn/docs/v17/s06/17.pdf and the grandson of Paul Joseph Cee and Edith Murray and the great grandson of Thomas Coe and Jessie Mary, née Waggerah (Crow). , He was active in campaigns around the 1967 referendum and the establishment in 1972 of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, working with Pearl Gibbs, Chicka Dixon and Billy Craigie in the fight for basic human rights and justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
He played an important role at the Aboriginal Legal Service.»http://books.google.com.au/books?id=m-THHu55a6AC
In 1979, as a young barrister, he took an action in the High Court of Australia arguing that at the time white people came to Australia, Aborigines were here and therefore the Court had to recognise their rights. (Paul Coe vs. Commonwealth of Australia ).
His claim was rejected on technical grounds; all of the judges except one rejected the notion that Aborigines had any rights to land. Thirteen years later the High Court of Australia accepted Coe's argument, ruling in Mabo that Aboriginal rights did survive after European arrival and were recognised under the guise of native title.
In 1997, following proceedings in the Legal Services Tribunal, Paul Coe's name was removed from the roll of legal practitioners. The Tribunal found that Coe had sworn an affidavit which he knew to be false in a material particular. The affidavit in question was sworn in the course of family law proceedings, to which Coe was a party, and understated his salary by some $80,000.Coe v NSW Bar Association »2000 NSWCA 13
Coe appealed the decision, but the Supreme Court of NSW Court of Appeal upheld the Tribunal's decision.
Both the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal commended Coe's role in advancing the interests of the Aboriginal community, however, the Court considered that Coe was not fit to practice, stating that the Court must be able to trust that barristers appearing before it would act in accordance with the law and would not mislead the Court.
Media reports indicate that Coe was subsequently investigated by the Bar Association of NSW for continuing to practice despite being removed from the roll. The outcome of the investigation is unknown.