National Centre for Indigenous Studies

Is Justice Reinvestment needed in Australia?

2 August 2012

Dr Tom Calma AONational Coordinator Tackling Indigenous Smoking

and Indigenous Rights Advocate

• The Justice Reinvestment Movement in Australia– Profile of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

peoples

– Overview of the Close the Gap Campaign and

governments’ responses

– Where to now?

2

What I will cover in this session

The truth is, a business as usual approach towards Indigenous Australians is not working. Most old approaches are not working. We need a new beginning — a new beginning which contains real measures of policy success or policy failure; a new beginning, a new partnership, on closing the gap with sufficient flexibility not to insist on a one-size-fits-all approach for each of the hundreds of remote and regional Indigenous communities across the country but instead allowing flexible, tailored, local approaches to achieve commonly-agreed national objectives that lie at the core of our proposed new partnership; a new beginning that draws intelligently on the experiences of new policy settings across the nation.Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, 13 Feb 2008[i]

3

Strategic Review of Indigenous Expenditure – DOF 2010 released 2011

Past approaches to remedying Indigenous disadvantage have clearly failed, and new approaches are needed for the future.

Effective service delivery continues to be a major challenge.....•F.11 A clear message from the recent past is that policies and programs must be targeted to local needs, in close engagement and active partnership with the people they are designed to assist.

•28.1. review the approach to health promotion communications and social marketing strategies to ensure that they are effectively targeted and implemented to achieve the desired impact for Indigenous Australians, drawing on the expertise and activities of other Commonwealth agencies and coordination forums;…

4

Most Indigenous people live

on the Eastern

sea-board and in urban

centres

The 2011 census recorded a 20.51 per cent increase on 2006 levels to 548,370

The median age was 21 years, 16 less than the national median age of 37

35.9 per cent were aged less than 15 years

6

Indigenous and non-Indigenous age structures 

7

The campaign for health equality requires a comprehensive national plan

OVERALL TARGET:

HEALTH STATUS EQUALITY WITHIN 25 YEARS

Targets and benchmarks as appropriate.

FOUNDATION TARGET:

EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEALTHY WITHIN 10 YEARS

Sub-target 1: Equality of access to primary health care within 10 years.

Sub-target 2: Equal standard of health infrastructure within 10 years 9

10

11

Social Action - CTG

1414

People Movement National Close The Gap Day – 22 March – 800+ events

15

National Health Leadership Forum

16

Co-chaired by Jody Broun, Co-Chair NCAFP and Justin Mohamed, Chair of NACCHO

CTG Steering Committee members

Building partnerships• Oxfam Australia• Australian General Practice Network• Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council• Australian Human Rights Commission (Secretariat)• Australian Medical Association• Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation• Australian Peak Nursing and Midwifery Forum• Bullana - the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health• The Fred Hollows Foundation• Heart Foundation Australia• Menzies School of Health Research• Palliative Care Australia• Royal Australasian College of Physicians• Royal Australian College of General Practitioners• Professor Ian Ring, Wollongong University (expert adviser)

Statement of Intent

• PM• Minister of Health and

Minister of Indigenous Affairs

• Opposition Leader• Every major

Indigenous and non Indigenous peak health and human rights body

• First and only bipartisan agreement

20 March 2008

18

19

Statement of Intent

“……commits the Government of Australia, Indigenous Australians, supported by non-Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous health organisations to work together to

achieve equality in health status and life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians by

the year 2030.”

• To developing a comprehensive, long-term plan of action, that is targeted to need, evidence-based and capable of addressing the existing inequalities in health services, in order to achieve equality … by 2030

• To ensure the full participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their representative bodies in all aspects of addressing their health needs.

Data

23

The latest AIHW publication, Juvenile justice in Australia: 2010-11 and Juvenile justice in Australia 2010-11: an overview will be publicly released at 1:00AM Friday 10 August 2012 

About the report Juvenile justice in Australia: 2010-11: On an average day in 2010-11, 2.6 young people aged 10-17 were under juvenile justice supervision for every 1,000 in Australia. Most young people (86%) were supervised in the community, with the remainder in detention. Indigenous young people aged 10-17 were 15 times as likely as non-Indigenous young people to be under supervision on an average day: 14 times as likely to be under community-based supervision and 24 times as likely to be in detention.

24

Percentage of prisoners released in 2006-7 who returned to prison within 2 years

Australian Productivity Commission, SCRGSP (2010) Report on Government Services 2009

30

31

data mapping undertaken by the Australian Social Inclusion Board in May 2010

Two priority areas

32

Very poor investment into and coordination of licensing programs (and relicensing, including payment of fines etc)

Uni Sydney working with AstraZeneca, through their Young Health Programme (running globally)  to develop, implement and evaluate a community based driver licensing programme for young Aboriginal people in three sites in NSW. The program will coordinate all the necessary services including assistance through the licensing process, through re-licensing (payment of fines, suspensions etc) and also develop road safety materials with young people for their communities.

We are also doing other work on driver licensing and road safety in Aboriginal people in a few other studies, including in the NT and SA.

Empowerment, Healing and Leadership program

Consulting with the Community to develop an innovative and culturally responsive Empowerment, Healing and Leadership program

Queensland Prison Population - 2012

The 12-month prevalence of mental disorder was 73% among men and 86% among women.

This comprised:• anxiety disorders (men, 20%; women, 51%); • depressive disorders (men, 11%; women, 29%);• psychotic disorders (men, 8%; women, 23%)

and • substance misuse disorders (men, 66%;

women, 69%).

34

35

NT Indigenous imprisonment rate worst in nationJano GibsonPosted September 15, 2011

The Northern Territory has recorded the biggest jump in the Indigenous imprisonment rate of any jurisdiction in the nation.

…about 1,250 Territorians were in custody in the June quarter, with more than 1,000 of them Indigenous.

Indigenous prison rates jump by 52pcStephen Johnson May 5, 2011

• Indigenous imprisonment rates have jumped by more than 50 per cent over the past decade.

• imprisonment rate surged from 1248 for every 100,000 Australian adults in 2000 to 1892 by 2010, marking a 52 per cent increase.

• now make up 26 per cent of the prison population despite making up just 2.5 per cent of the Australian population.

ACT Justice Reinvestment

37

Discussions have been held with all political parties with the lead party

being the ACT Greens

A formal roundtable involving the community, stakeholder parties and politicians is in the planning

for late 2012

38

SA Roundtable on Justice Reinvestment

9 March 2012

Federal Greens Senator Penny Wright and Adelaide Greens MLC Tammy Franks

39

The ‘Justice Reinvestment Campaign’ will highlight that in New South Wales Aboriginal young people (who make up just 2.2% of the population) are now 28 times more likely to end up in juvenile detention than non-Aboriginal young people at an annual cost of over $230,000 per young person.

http://justicereinvestmentnow.net.au/

40

41

The CampaignPolicy development The policy sub committee’s intention is to present the need for and benefits of JR in NSW based on US experiences, and then to hypothetically model the application of JR within a local community to demonstrate social and economic benefits.

Political engagement strategyThe working group’s aim is to present to Ministerial Task Force on Aboriginal Affairs and conduct a forum at Parliament House. The Leader of the Opposition has also contacted the working group.  

Public engagement strategyThe Campaign’s website is up and running and supported by our social media strategy. www.justicereinvestmentnow.net.au.

Youth Engagement SubcommitteeThe Aboriginal young people who participated in the launch and the campaign’s video have expressed an interest in remaining involved in the work of the campaign. We are setting up a youth engagement subcommittee ……

“What can I do to achieve equality for all Australians?”

43

“From self respect comes dignity;from dignity comes hope; andfrom hope comes resilience”