The ACT Government will commission an independent review into its progress in addressing the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system.
Earlier this year, the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services (ROGS) showed that the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the ACT justice system had worsened.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were 20 times more likely to be in prison in the ACT than non-Indigenous people, representing 26 per cent of the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) prison population. Whilst the total number of people in the prison went down, and was at its lowest since 2014-15, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees had not lessened. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were also still 12 times more likely to be under a community corrections order than non-Indigenous people in the ACT.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be over-represented in the ACT criminal justice system,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Rachel Stephen-Smith, minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, acknowledged.
“The government is committed to addressing the causes of this unacceptable over-representation, in partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocates have called for a review or inquiry into the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system.”
For instance, Julie Tongs, head of Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services (WNAHCS), which runs a clinic in the AMC, called last year for a royal commission into the AMC, overincarceration, and Indigenous disadvantage in the ACT.
- Royal Commission needed for Indigenous disadvantage (28 January 2022)
- ACT’s $20M response to Aboriginal overincarceration ‘not enough’ (27 July 2022)
Mr Barr and Ms Stephen-Smith said that, in response to these calls, the government will engage an independent consultant to review the ACT Government’s progress in implementing recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Report 133, Pathways to Justice – Inquiry into the Incarceration Rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
The government expects this review will recommend further practical measures that will lower over-representation rates and improve the experience of First Nations people who interact with the ACT’s justice system.
The review will be led by a First Nations consultancy who will engage with First Nations communities, including those who have lived experience with the ACT criminal justice system.
“The government is determined to ensure a fair and equitable justice system for all members of the community,” Mr Barr and Ms Stephen-Smith said.
The government invested $11 million in the 2022-23 Budget to address the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT criminal justice system.
The government will seek feedback from local First Nations community organisations on the proposed terms of reference for the independent review.
An interim report will be delivered by March 2024, and a final report will be completed later that year. The ACT Government will respond in the 2024‑25 Budget.
This timeline, the ministers said, will also enable the review to support ACT engagement in the Justice Policy Partnership under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The next stage of this work will be discussed at the Joint Council on Closing the Gap on 7 June.
