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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 3 Hansard (6 March) . . Page.. 608 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The ACT government is supporting and contributing to the development of this framework. We will report to COAG through our participation in a range of ministerial councils.

As well as being presented to the Legislative Assembly, this report will be provided to the ACT Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee for scrutiny and will of course be made publicly available.

There are many important issues in this report, and I commend it to the Assembly for further consideration.

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition) (3:54): I of course have not had an opportunity to peruse the report. I look forward to doing that. I note with interest the comments made by the Chief Minister in relation to the black deaths in custody report and its implementation in the ACT. I am a little bit surprised at some of the statistical information provided by the Chief Minister, presumably taken from the report. Perhaps it is a reflection of the fact that the report is now eight or nine months old. It is interesting that the information provided in the report and revealed by the Chief Minister in his speech is, on first blush-as I said, I have not looked at the report-somewhat at odds with the Productivity Commission's reports in relation to indigenous arrest rates.

I have commented earlier about the very disturbing fact that the Productivity Commission reported just a month ago that the ACT now leads the nation in indigenous arrest rates. On a per capita basis, we lead the nation in the number of indigenous people processed through the criminal justice system. Members would be aware that the last annual report of the Community Advocate contained a very disturbing analysis of the number of indigenous juveniles processed in the ACT, the number of indigenous juveniles resident in Quamby and the extremely disproportionate representation of indigenous youth within the criminal justice system in the ACT.

The disproportionate representation of indigenous youth in the ACT in the criminal justice system is just about the worst in Australia. We have the highest indigenous arrest rate and the highest indigenous incarceration rate. I think we potentially have the highest rate of indigenous youth incarceration in the nation. Canberra, the national capital, the wealthiest city in the nation, has an incapacity to deal with indigenous issues.

All of the health indicators in relation to indigenous people in this nation are the same as or worse than the health indicators everywhere else. The indigenous post-natal death rate is three times higher than the non-indigenous rate.

The average life expectancy of indigenous people in the ACT is 20 years less than the average life expectancy of non-indigenous people. The disadvantage suffered by indigenous people is reflected through crime rates and reflected through the level of indigenous substance abuse in this city-potentially the highest level of substance abuse of any indigenous population in Australia. There is an enormous over-representation of heroin use in the indigenous community in the ACT. These are all indicators of disadvantage, all indicators of a community that is not receiving, as

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