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Submission — 31 May 2011Submission to the Queensland government draft Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Strategy 2011-2014Use the links below to access sections of the submission, or
IntroductionResponse to Justice Strategy The Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland (ADQC) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the draft Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Strategy 2011-2014.
Continued over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the Justice System- Need to address underlying issuesThe ADCQ notes that 20 years have passed since the handing down of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCADIC) report and its 339 recommendations. The RCADIC report was highly significant in that it focused attention on the extremely high levels of overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Criminal Justice system. The Report recognised that only through addressing the underlying causes for the high representation, would there be any long term reduction in the levels of overrepresentation. It is highly concerning that despite the efforts of successive governments in focusing on these issues for two decades since reports of RCADIC in 1991, Indigenous over representation has not decreased, but in most instances has significantly increased. [1] This is true not just in Queensland but across all Australian jurisdictions. Both RCADIC and the more recent nationwide Closing the Gap strategy recognise that only when education, health, housing, and employment needs are adequately addressed, will the levels of disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (including the over representation in the justice system) be remedied. The draft Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Strategy 2011-2014 will attempt to take a holistic approach and intends to place a strong emphasis on ‘ways to tackle the many underlying causes of Indigenous over representation in the criminal justice system including levels of alcohol misuse, violence, education, health, poverty and employment. We recognise strategies that build on the centrality of culture to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and support cultural maintenance are more likely to succeed in addressing these areas of underlying disadvantage.’ The right to education, housing, health care, employment and a life free of violence are basic human rights, the entitlement of every individual. The ADCQ is encouraged that the draft strategy is committed to a holistic approach that embraces addressing a number of the underlying disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in these areas.
Justice ReinvestmentThe ADCQ is also heartened to see that the draft strategy is giving consideration to the concept of Justice Reinvestment. The strategy notes that the ‘concept of justice reinvestment envisages a shift in how finite resources are allocated and prioritised across the justice system having regard to what works, to ensure that the investment of resources is directed to the most effective programs to deliver results on the ground’ and that ‘a more rigorous application of justice reinvestment in Queensland will be part of the work program underpinning the Strategy.’ The ADCQ welcomes the initiative in the strategy to adopt ‘the steps outlined in the justice reinvestment methodology to inform the future allocation of resources: mapping crime and offence data, working with local communities to determine need, and evaluation.’
Other IssuesThe consultation on the strategy asks for views on the actions proposed in the draft Strategy to reduce offending and reoffending of young people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults and what other actions should be considered to further this objective? The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sets the minimum human rights standards to guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and government in advancing the rights of Indigenous people. The Articles provide an overarching framework to guide the realisation of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and provides the benchmark against which the actions of reform are assessed.
1. Addressing lateral violenceThe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda has outlined his agenda for addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Commissioner Gooda has recognised the need within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to address the issue of ‘lateral violence’. Lateral violence is a recognised phenomenon specific to colonised indigenous peoples around the world. This phenomena relates to the inherited historical legacies of forced removal and assimilation has resulted in widespread dispersal, dispossession, lack of identity for many and oppression leading to ‘lateral violence’ internalised generationally within indigenous communities. In healing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities of ‘lateral violence’, Commissioner Gooda and other Indigenous leaders recognise the need for leadership and design of healing programs by Aboriginal and Torres Islander people and communities themselves. Commissioner Gooda identifies this approach as a 'strengths-based' approach in finding ways in which individuals, family units and communities can build on their capabilities. Programs such as the Family Wellbeing Empowerment Program in Cairns and Yarrabah were specifically designed to overcome community conflict through building support within families and communities, provide an example of community empowerment through people confronting and addressing behaviours and challenges that stifle and hurt communities. The ADCQ recommends that the justice strategy should incorporate measures and programs to help in the healing of individuals and communities of lateral violence. Such programs if effective should reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons who are victims of crime, and also reduce the number of persons coming into contact with the justice system as offenders due to lateral violence.
2. Assisting Young A&TSI people in obtaining mandatory hours in order to obtain a driver’s licenseUnder the Strategy there will be a focus on improving the support provided to Indigenous people to obtain a driver’s license. Since 2003 the Queensland Indigenous Driver Licensing Program has provided mobile licensing units to offer licensing services to remote communities in far north Queensland, including Cape York, the Gulf and Torres Strait Islands. It is now led by the Department of Transport and Main Roads. The program is directed at reducing unlicensed driving and the consequential legal, social, and actual cost to the individuals, their families, and communities including fatalities, incarceration and unemployment. The draft Strategy outlines that it will use local police to focus on reducing licensing offences. The Educate, Implement and Enforce approach will be used wherever possible by local police to reduce the number of Indigenous people dealt with for driver licence offences. As well, all prisons and detention centres will provide driver education support to assist people to get their licence, or to regain it, including those on short stays (i.e. less than 12 months). The ADCQ is concerned that there does not yet appear to be any sustained government sponsored initiatives or programs to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to help acquire their mandatory 100 hours of driving experience necessary to sit for a driver’s licence test. Young people require assistance in gaining their driver’s licences in their communities. Such programs should not be limited to the detention centres or goals. The ADCQ is aware of an assertion that there is correlation in the increase of numbers of young people and particularly Aboriginal youth appearing in court in regional Queensland as a consequence of the impact of amendments to the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995. A submission made by Magistrate Stephanie Tonkin to House of Representatives Inquiry into the High Level of Indigenous Juveniles and Young Adults in the Criminal Justice System in May 2010 noted this impact while presiding on sessions with the Murri, Drug and Children’s Courts in Townsville, Charters Towers, Ayr, Richmond, Hughenden and Palm Island. Magistrate Tonkin provides a thorough and thoughtful account of the legal consequences of unlicensed driving in regional Queensland which she contends impact disproportionately on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth as a result of the regulations of the then Graduated Licensing System introduced in July 2007. Magistrate Tonkin’s submission contends that these requirements fails to take into account the difficulties that young people particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth living in regional Queensland would experience in fulfilling such a requirement as having access to a family member or other person who is an experienced licensed driver to supervise 100 hours of log-booked driving experience prior to gaining a provisional license. Magistrate Tonkin also identifies the general lack of available public transportation in regional centres and the reliance on private vehicles, to the increase in young unlicensed drivers who chance the risk of being caught to get to and from employment which is invariably at some distance from their home. The ADCQ recommends the Government as part of the justice strategy to consider programs to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth to acquire the 100 hours necessary to gain their drivers licence.
3. Addressing the civil and family law needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PeopleMost legal assistance for Indigenous people in Australia has focused on the criminal law. Professor Chris Cunneen has written about the problem of the lack of legal assistance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to address civil law and family law issues. The danger is that unaddressed civil and family law matters can escalate to criminal acts, resulting in charges and a perpetuation of the cycle of criminal over representation. [2] It has been noted that there is almost a universal lack of understanding in Indigenous communities and legal support workers in those communities about the civil law, and how the resolution of civil law matters can be beneficial to the community. There is a need for legal assistance and knowledge on how to resolve issues and disputes with landlords; in the education area to deal with issues of suspension and exclusion;with credit and debt; discrimination, and family law matters where breakdowns occur in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. Unresolved civil law matters can add additional stress to individuals, families and communities who may already be coping with high levels of disadvantage. The ADCQ recommends that specialist civil law services accessible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living throughout Queensland be adequately funded.
4. Accountability and Achieving Measurable ChangeThe draft strategy outlines a number of Government Ministers, Departments, Directors Generals and other entities that will be responsible for the implementation and monitoring of the draft strategy. It also identifies a number of targets that document a specific measurable outcome that is to be achieved over the three year life of the strategy, for example:
The ADCQ recommends that to achieve sustained commitment in achieving outcomes, specific measurable targets ought to be part of a Director General’s or CEO’s and other senior offices performance targets, contained within their contract of employment. Targets within the control of CEO ought to be one of the strategies for accountability contained within the final strategy.
SummaryThe ADCQ makes the following recommendations: 1. Addressing Lateral ViolenceThe ADCQ recommends that the justice strategy should incorporate measures and programs to help in the healing of individuals and communities of lateral violence. Such programs if effective should reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons who are victims of crime, and also reduce the number of persons coming into contact with the justice system as offenders due to lateral violence. 2. Assisting Young A&TSI people in obtaining mandatory hours in order to obtain a driver’s licenseThe ADCQ recommends the Government as part of the justice strategy to consider programs to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth to acquire the 100 hours necessary to gain their drivers licence. 3. Resources for civil and non-criminal legal needsThe ADCQ recommends that specialist civil law services accessible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living throughout Queensland be adequately funded. 4. Accountability and achieving measurable changeThe ADCQ recommends that to achieve sustained commitment in achieving outcomes, specific measurable targets ought to be part of a Director General’s or CEO’s and other senior offices performance targets, contained within their contract of employment. Targets within the control of CEO ought to be one of the strategies for accountability contained within the final strategy. Thanks and acknowledgement.The ADCQ thanks the Department of Communities for the opportunity to comment on the draft strategy. KEVIN COCKS AM
Footnotes1.The Assessment of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Agreement 2000-2010 at page 10 observes that rates at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are incarcerated has increased over time: In 2000 the age standardised rate at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults were incarcerated was 1,160 per 100,000 population, in 2010 it was 1,443. That is, this rate has increased 24% since 2000. |
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