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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (2 December) . . Page.. 4317 ..

MS REILLY (continuing):

Another issue that arose from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the justice system - both the juvenile system and the adult system. We have continued in the ACT to have an overrepresentation of Aboriginal people within this system. This report talks about 10 per cent being Aboriginal. When you consider that Aboriginal people make up less than one per cent of the population in the ACT, there is a high number of Aboriginal people in custody in the ACT. In the juvenile system the percentage is rising. The percentage of Aboriginals in custody in 1995-96 was 6.7 per cent, in 1993-94 it was 6 per cent, and in 1994-95 it was 4 per cent. This increase in the number of adults in the justice system in the ACT is of grave concern.

Some of the activities that have gone on do not appear to be addressing this at all. Mrs Carnell talked about a number of programs, but these do not seem to be reaching the people for whom the justice system and incarceration seem to be almost a way of life. We need to look at what programs are available. We need to look beyond just how many people are picked up for intoxication and other issues. We need to look at the basic services of housing, health, education and employment, so that these people have further opportunities and are less likely to come to the attention of the police. We have to continue to look at police training and at cultural awareness in dealings between the police and the Aboriginal community. These things are important. They will lead to improving the economic and social wellbeing of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT.

It is not a matter of putting out an annual report. It is a matter of taking actions that will make the changes. That is what is important. It is not just to do with the reporting system. It is to do with how you develop services and how you deliver services that are relevant to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR WHITECROSS (5.35): I present Report No. 32 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, entitled "Report on the lease/leaseback of the Magistrates Court and the Dame Pattie Menzies Building", together with a copy of the extracts of the minutes of proceedings. I move:

That the report be noted.

This inquiry had its origins in the Select Committee on Estimates 1996-97, which was not satisfied that all issues relating to the lease and lease-back of the Magistrates Court building and the Dickson building, which is currently called the Dame Pattie Menzies Building, had been fully examined. The Estimates Committee formed the view at that time that the arrangements were effectively another form of borrowing, notwithstanding

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