Page 2656 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not get into further trouble as a result of skipping or missing bail, appointments with parole officers and so on; as well as a very useful partnership with the Northside Community Service, which is providing assistance to Indigenous people in relation to employment and training programs. So combined, the government is providing a very significant level of support to the Aboriginal Justice Centre, in the order of $1½ million.
In 2008, I launched a report that had been prepared by the ACT Council of Social Service and the centre titled Circles of support: towards Indigenous justice: prevention, diversion and rehabilitation. This recommended the development of an Aboriginal justice agreement to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system. The government, I am pleased to say, has established just such an agreement. That agreement was signed last year by me, representing the government, along with the former chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body.
The agreement is a first for the ACT. It outlines the principles and it outlines the approaches and the shared commitment which we have and which the elected body has with the broader Indigenous community to deliver improvements in the way law and justice services are provided to and engage with Indigenous people. These new approaches see all of our justice agencies working in partnership with other government agencies and the broader Indigenous community to implement reforms and to identify new and better ways of reducing the levels of Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.
MS PORTER: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Thank you. Attorney, can you expand on the development of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice agreement and the type of measures outlined in the agreement?
MR CORBELL: I thank Ms Porter for the question. The agreement was developed in partnership with the elected body, with the Aboriginal Justice Centre and with the government as a whole. It was done through a working group. The agreement has a range of very important objectives. It is about improving community safety, improving access to justice for Indigenous people, reducing overrepresentation and improving collaboration. All too often we see different parts of the non-government sector and the government sector working in isolation and not joining up their efforts to improve the support that we provide overall to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is about supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to support themselves, to provide leadership to their community on justice issues. It is also about reducing inequality.
These objectives are set out in the agreement and they form a very important basis for the partnership approach that we adopt in relation to engaging with Indigenous people who come into contact with the justice system.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Bresnan?
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