The ACT Greens propose a “smart on crime” approach focused on reducing recidivism and addressing the root causes of harmful behaviours.

Their policy platform includes a $55 million “Breaking the Cycle” fund, free legal aid expanding the Drug and Alcohol Court, and raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14.

However, justice reform advocates and independents have criticised it as hypocritical and ineffectual.

Greens policy

The Greens believe that crime is the result of social determinants; in their view, the justice system only supports people once they have committed harmful behaviours, which leads to repeated offences and an unsafe community. While the Greens say that responding to crimes through policing and courts is essential, they argue that early intervention and addressing social factors are the best solution.

“Our system is flawed,” the Greens say. “People who engage in harmful behaviours, such as crime, typically only get support once they’re in the justice system. It is a response to the outcome of the harmful behaviour rather than the underlying causes. It makes our community less safe – people continue to cycle in and out of the justice system, crime continues and the whole community is disadvantaged.

“The Greens support a ‘smart on crime’ approach – one that will break the cycles of crime and reoffending, for the benefit of the whole community. It is important to respond to crimes as they occur, through police, courts, victim support, and – where necessary – incarceration, but we need to go further and faster to transform the justice system. We will invest in people to address the social determinants that lead to harmful behaviours, provide support sooner, and ultimately support our whole community.”

The Greens would establish a $55 million “Breaking the Cycle” fund to reduce recidivism. A new bail support program would reduce reoffending by a third, the Greens say. They would expand the Justice Housing program for stable accommodation for ex-detainees; increase Throughcare services to help them reintegrate; and create 100 jobs for them. They would establish a lived experience advisory group and offer businesses incentives to hire former inmates.

The Greens want to reduce Indigenous overrepresentation in the ACT justice system (the highest in the country) to match non-Indigenous rates by 2031. They would follow First Nations people’s advice on changing the system; support Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations; implement the Jumbunna Institute’s recommendations to reduce contact with the justice system; and work with NSW to help defendants facing charges in both jurisdictions rehabilitate.

The Greens would expand the Drug and Alcohol Court to the ACT Magistrates Court to include less serious cases, and provide more funding ($4.5 million per year); expand the Restorative Justice Scheme and employ 10 more staff ($7.5 million over four years); increase funding for community legal services ($10 million extra over four years); and provide free legal aid to more Canberrans by raising eligibility thresholds (to $498 per week).

The Greens would raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 by 1 July 2025 (legislation to do so already passed the Legislative Assembly last year); and ban spit hoods (which ACT Policing no longer uses, after the AFP banned them in 2022).

They would fund victim support during the rollout of electronic monitoring; secure funding for the Law Reform and Sentencing Advisory Council ($600,000 per year); embed safe driving programs in schools; and decriminalise sex work to ensure better workplace protections.

Tom McLuckie

Tom McLuckie’s son Matthew was killed in a head-on crash with a drug driver in 2022. Since then, Mr McLuckie has advocated a reform of criminal sentencing and penalties for repeat offenders. The government rejected his e-petition – the second most-supported in the ACT’s history – brought forward by the Canberra Liberals, but did set up the LRSAC.

“Everything the Greens are promoting as the future of Justice and Community Services goals are an admission of non-delivery and ideological obstinacy over the last 12 years of their participation in the ACT Government,” Mr McLuckie said.

“Shane Rattenbury was corrections minister for eight years. Emma Davidson for nearly one year, Shane, Justice Minister for four years and Attorney-General for four years, and yet now they say the Justice system needs fixed.

“Shane has been vocal in denying our campaign claims the justice system needed a review, yet now the Green Party declares things need fixed! 

“What HYPOCRISY. This is despite Shane’s public denials that anything was wrong, and despite our petitions asking for an independent review of sentencing and bail, and findings from the Justice and Community Safety Committee that he and [Chief Minister] Andrew Barr rejected, claiming all was well in the state of ‘Barrdonia’.

“Their statement is a slap in the face to all victims of crime in Canberra, who have been calling out shortcomings they now claim they will address just because it is election time. Victims of rape, domestic abuse, culpable driving and serious assault, including under robbery and burglary offences. No-one is representing victims of crime in an appropriate manner, unless you are a high profile alleged victim of a crime reported at Parliament House. The Victims of Crime Commissioner has given me and the other families of motor vehicle crimes about two hours of her time in the last two years, though her staff have been wonderful. I do wonder if it was because I was too critical of her mates in Greens and Labor that she has distanced herself?

“We’ve been calling out the shortcomings of the Justice system for the last two-and-a-half years, and only now are they prepared to address them due to an election and because they realise the public are aware of their policies on crime.  

“The corrections system under Shane and Emma’s remit is a disaster, and amazingly they will now prioritise skills, training and after-imprisonment support.

“What about the last 12 years, nine of which you had responsibility where you have done nothing because of your ideology, that no-one should be in prison? Murderers, rapists, child abusers, serious offenders are to be in the community under their ideology, and restorative justice councils will break that bond of punishment and criminality. 

“How would a restorative justice council make me more engaged, happier and consulted as the Green policy states? An unrepentant criminal who believes they have nothing to answer for? So, Shane, what level of satisfaction would that bring me and my family? You implied in the Assembly victims need to be prepared to give it a go! I’m waiting for Shane and the Greens response. I would rather stab myself in the thigh with a fork.

“To me and others, this is a desperate move from a party who knows the community is prepared to hold them to account, that their ideological position on crime is not supported, and a white flag for this election. We need to vote them out from their highly paid jobs this election due to their lack of action over years. For Matthew McLuckie, for Lachlan Seary, for Blake Corney, for Alexis Saaghy, Claire Sankey, Susi Kopysiewicz and so many others, think before you number a Green this election. If it were up to them, the lunatics would really be allowed to run the asylum.”

Belco Party

Ex-policeman and Belco Party candidate Jason Taylor questioned why none of these policy positions had been implemented already, given that Shane Rattenbury was the Attorney-General for the whole of the last term, and that the Greens have held the corrections portfolio for the majority of the last three terms of government. In his view, the Greens are largely responsible for the decline of educational and reintegration services within the AMC.

“Nothing within the Greens policy platform will have any meaningful impact on the justice system until they get fair dinkum and admit that there is a serious problem that only a full and independent review can address,” Mr Taylor said.

“Recent events show that we can’t trust the Greens to campaign fairly, so we certainly can’t trust them in the Legislative Assembly to advocate for the ACT community.”

Independents for Canberra

Policeman and Independents for Canberra candidate Mark Richardson said: “The Greens have announced much of what Independents for Canberra has been calling for. The difference is that they’ve been in government for the last 12 years.

“The ACT has Australia’s highest reoffending rates according to the Productivity Commission. This number increased last year, and has risen from 58.4 per cent in 2012-13 to 63.7 per cent in 2022-23. The reoffending rate has gone up since the introduction of the Attorney General’s Reducing Recidivism by 25% by 2050 program.

“Under the watch of a Greens Attorney-General, the ACT has maintained the highest Indigenous imprisonment gap in Australia; Indigenous Canberrans are 24.6 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous Canberrans.

“Notwithstanding some of the worst outcomes in the country, ACT ratepayers are somehow paying the highest cost per inmate of any state or territory.

“The Greens list of ‘what they will do’ consists of policy ideas they have failed to implement over the last four years. Their announcement outlines programs like a Justice Housing Program – a huge gap in our system that has been ignored by the Greens for the entirety of the last term of government, and longer. The underutilisation of the Transitional Release Centre and the failure to build the promised Reintegration Centre is their legacy.”

IfC leader Thomas Emerson said: “Our community deserves a criminal justice system that works for all, the result of which would be decreasing rates of reoffending. The system we have does the opposite, and that’s why Canberrans are calling for change this election.”

Strong Independents

Peter Strong (Strong Independents) said: “What the Greens are promising should have happened a long time ago. They have actually created the problems they are wanting to fix. Without a minority government in the ACT, with independents on the cross bench, then there will be no change. It should be noted that often it looks like their policies were developed by AI.”