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A campaign has been launched to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in jail and as victims of violence.
A campaign has been launched to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in jail and as victims of violence. Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
A campaign has been launched to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in jail and as victims of violence. Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Change the Record campaign aims to cut Indigenous jail rates in a generation

This article is more than 8 years old

Coalition of organisations says proportion of Indigenous Australians who are in the justice system or are victims of violence is at ‘crisis point’

The overrepresentation of Indigenous people in jail must be closed within a generation, a coalition of organisations said, as it launched a campaign to tackle the causes of imprisonment and violence on Thursday.

The Change the Record campaign said levels were at “crisis point” and called for new approaches to address the high rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system and as victims of violence.

The campaign is calling on all levels of government to increase investment in early intervention, preventive and diversionary strategies, and to work in partnership with Indigenous people.

The stated goals of the campaign are to “close the gap in rates of imprisonment by 2040; and cut the disproportionate rates of violence ... with priority strategies for women and children”.

It outlines several areas that would benefit from investment, including greater focus on rehabilitation, community support and fairer sentencing.

The co-chairwoman of the coalition, Kirstie Parker, said in a statement the campaign was born of frustration.

“The Change the Record campaign has come about through the great frustration among grassroots and other organisations that things are simply not getting any better. In fact, they’re getting worse,” Parker said.

“Frankly, we are all tired of hearing the bad statistics. We know there are solutions and that with a shared commitment, we can change these statistics.”

An Aboriginal woman is 34 times more likely to be taken to hospital for family violence-related assaults than a non-Indigenous woman. In the Northern Territory, where services are underresourced and overrun, Aboriginal women are 80 times more likely to be hospitalised. A Senate inquiry in March heard from a Darwin domestic violence shelter which had turned away more than 200 families in the past six months.

This week the New South Wales deputy opposition leader, Linda Burney, said domestic violence in the west of the state was ‘past a state of emergency’, in part due to funding cuts and the reorganisation of homelessness services.

A march against domestic violence was held in the western NSW town of Brewarrina on Thursday, days after an 18-year-old woman was killed in an alleged domestic violence incident.

Community liaison Trish Frail said 80 people congregated on the spot the woman had been murdered, before marching down the main street and past the local pub. The march highlighted “a big hidden issue” in the town with participants declaring, “it’s not our culture so we don’t have to put up it”.

A Ngemba woman, Frail said in traditional Aboriginal life family violence and sexual abuse warranted serious punishment. And that the contemporary legal system was “not addressing the issues as well as it could be”.

The victim’s cousin, Fred Hooper also took part in the march and made a speech.

The number of Indigenous people in Australian prisons has grown by more than 80% over the past 10 years, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released in December.

Indigenous people make up just 2% to 3% of the Australian population, but more than 27% of the prison population. The proportion of incarcerated people varies widely from state to state – from 8% in Victoria to 85% in the Northern Territory.

The statistics are more dramatic for Indigenous women – who make up 34% of the female prison population – and young people, who are 24 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous youth. Rates for Indigenous youth are worsening, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data released on Wednesday.

The national justice coalition behind the campaign includes Antar (Australians for native title and reconciliation), Amnesty International, the Australian Council of Social Service, the Law Council of Australia and the national congress of Australia’s first peoples.

Andrew Meehan, national director of Antar, told Guardian Australia the two goals were “absolutely intertwined.”

“Communities aren’t safer when people are going in and out of jail. Many of the same drivers of why people offend and how they get involved with the criminal justice system are interrelated with family violence,” he said.

“What’s needed is an approach that shifts the focus from the criminal justice system to diversion, prevention, early intervention, and we think that will make communities safer and reduce both the rates of imprisonment and the rates of violence.”

The federal government has repeatedly rejected calls for justice targets to be included in the national close the gap strategy. In December the social justice commissioner, Mick Gooda, said Australia was better at keeping kids in jail than in school.

Following sustained pressure about the likely impact on Indigenous people and domestic violence victims, in March the federal government reversed proposed cuts of $25m to legal services, including Indigenous-specific services. The move was welcomed by the sector but was also met with calls to go further, and increase funding by at least the $200m recommended by the Productivity Commission last year.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Prison Songs musical about Indigenous inmates to headline Darwin festival

  • Inside Out: Indigenous imprisonment in Australia - documentary video

  • Indigenous imprisonment rates still rising, figures show

  • Western Australia's record prison numbers 'increase risk of violence'

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