First Nations incarcerations review expected to be underway
A review of First Nations incarceration rates in the capital, announced in June last year, will soon get underway.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Many organisations providing culturally appropriate services receive government funding, but they want to do more.
00:09 We employ doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, dentists. They don't come cheap.
00:17 Advocates say disadvantage in areas like health, housing and education outside of the justice system contributes to unacceptably high rates of Indigenous prisoners inside Canberra's jail.
00:29 We do justice reinvestment here. We're having some real success with that program. That needs to be expanded.
00:37 But also, you know, people have to start walking the walk. They're all good at talking the talk, but no one's actually doing anything.
00:45 Of 375 prisoners in the ACT last year, 102 were Indigenous. That's 27% of the entire prison population.
00:55 A proportion which is up 10% on a decade ago, despite total prisoner numbers having peaked and then fallen.
01:02 To check its response against previous recommendations, the ACT Government has commissioned Indigenous researchers from the University of Technology Sydney's Jumbana Institute to conduct a review.
01:13 We're seeking to avoid this being a talk fest. There have been many reviews and that's why the first part of it is actually about saying how have we done against all of those other reports. Let's hold ourselves to account.
01:22 Later this year, a final report will recommend additional steps to reduce Indigenous over-representation in the justice system.
01:30 We have set an ambitious goal of ensuring that the rate of Indigenous incarceration is equal to the rest of the community by 2031.
01:38 If the consultants, when people start to talk, and I know that they've got a brief, but they're not going to dismiss everything else that's happening here. And this could be an opportunity.
01:50 Cautious optimism about closing the gap.
01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]