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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 3461 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

into the detail stage this week the department could carry on working and they could consult more thoroughly.

The royal commission's recommendations about custody for indigenous people emphasised the need to work with the community to make it as much as possible a community-based option. Recommendation 118 says that, where not presently available, home detention be provided as a sentencing option available to courts as well as a means of early release of prisoners. Great; but then let's look at the recommendations that precede 118, in the "Imprisonment as a last resort" section of the report. Recommendation 115 says that for the purpose of assessing the efficacy of sentencing options and for devising strategies for the rehabilitation of offenders, it is important that governments ensure that statistical and other information is recorded to enable an understanding of Aboriginal rates of recidivism and the effectiveness of various non-custodial sentencing orders and parole.

Recommendation 116 said that persons responsible for devising work programs for community service orders in Aboriginal communities should consult closely with the community to ensure that work is directed which is seen to have value to the community. Work performed under community service orders should not, however, be performed at the expense of paid employment which would otherwise be available to members of the Aboriginal community.

Given the emphasis on working with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in a given place, one would have thought that the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council, at a minimum, and other indigenous community groups would have been involved at early stages in developing this bill. This has not been the case. The Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council was given a presentation on the bill.

That is not quite the involved role you would expect when you read the government's 1999-2000 implementation report on the Bringing them home report. On page 15 they say that in recognition of the need for indigenous people to participate in the decision-making processes that impact on them in the criminal justice area, the ACT government has established the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee.

We know that indigenous imprisonment rates are disproportionate, 11 per cent, while the population is approximately 1 per cent. These figures do not reflect the different figures for young indigenous people, nor do they reflect the difference between men and women. This population figure is from the 2000 State of the Territory Report, and the 11 per cent figure is a summary of inmate characteristics. This gives us a clear picture. Indigenous people are over-represented in the ACT sentenced population. At the Estimates Committee hearing the then chair of the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council spoke strongly about how important it would be to address this imbalance for the indigenous community to be involved in setting the framework approach for sentencing and prison.

Following the scrutiny of bills committee report and the round table meeting last Friday, the government has prepared and circulated a number of amendments. Mr Osborne has also prepared amendments. Some of the government amendments address concern I raised about the assessment process. This concern was that the assessment include consideration of the effects on the household under the circumstances, on the sentenced person, and consideration of cultural sensitivities.

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