Page 363 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
will also be provided with timely and relevant legal advice, support in dealing with statutory agencies, including care and protection, support prior to, during and following the serving of a sentence, and referrals to relevant diversionary programs.
Another key project launched in December 2017 is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander driver licensing pilot project. This is a culturally relevant driver instruction education and support program designed to increase licensing rates and improve road safety, targeting Indigenous learner drivers, job seekers and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system from the ACT and greater region. The project seeks to reduce licensing inequality and improve road safety through tailored professional driving lessons and community-based support.
These justice reinvestment trials form part of our commitment to reducing recidivism. This work is further strengthened by committing to a tough measure in the parliamentary agreement for the Ninth Assembly to reduce recidivism by 25 per cent by 2025. As a comprehensive plan for reducing recidivism is developed, it will focus more on the key issue of reducing incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Justice reinvestment is about creating a smarter, more cost-effective approach to improving criminal justice outcomes, focused on reducing crime, improving public safety and strengthening communities. It is also about working with people to look at our local situation and develop local solutions.
Unfortunately, our ACT incarceration rates are not where we want them to be, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We must work together and we must work harder to change the current situation and reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our justice system. Our work through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice partnership, the justice reinvestment strategy and the recidivism plan strives to make this critical change happen. As we commence the development of a new justice partnership and our ACT recidivism plan, we have the opportunity to bring people and agencies together to focus on the critical issue of reducing over-representation.
The ACT government understands the importance of initial, ongoing cultural awareness training for all staff that provide services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees. The interdirectorate project team is aware that more needs to be done to provide culturally safe practices for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees and has sought advice from the steering committee on how this could best be achieved. The committee agreed, as Mr Moss recognised in his review, that increasing Aboriginal services within the AMC is essential to maintaining cultural connection and improving overall cultural awareness and safety for detainees. Increasing Winnunga’s participation at the AMC is a significant step forward in this area.
The steering committee have also suggested an increase in trauma-informed cultural enhancement programs for detainees at the AMC, and directorates are considering this advice in addition to the good work they already do around cultural awareness and increasing Indigenous employment levels across the ACT public service.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video