Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Fraser for raising this matter and take this brief opportunity to speak to the motion. I also note and acknowledge the presence of Jess Woodall in the gallery today. Jess assisted the member for Fraser in the preparation of this motion.

The statistics within the motion speak for themselves and highlight what should be a matter of deep concern to all Australians and certainly to governments at all levels. The reality is that after years of effort we are failing to make inroads into reducing Aboriginal incarceration rates. This has been matter that has been raised time and again by Aboriginal leaders and social workers within Aboriginal communities.

The motion specifically draws comparisons between Aboriginal incarceration rates today and incarceration rates of 20 years ago. Twenty years ago was the time of the Aboriginal deaths in custody inquiry, led by the late Elliott Johnston after Commissioner Jim Muirhead had to resign in 1989. I knew Elliott Johnston, and I understand that he worked closely with fellow commissioner and Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson in writing the inquiry report.

Almost a decade after Elliott presented his report, I asked him to address a public forum on his work. I can recall that at the forum he expressed considerable disappointment that few of the report's 339 recommendations, although agreed to by governments, had been sufficiently implemented. Had they been implemented, the situation today may well have been different. A good start, therefore, may be to revisit the recommendations of that report, look at what changes have been made since it was handed down and which recommendations still await action.

I have little doubt that the recommendations made in that report 20 years ago are as relevant today as they were then. Overcoming Aboriginal disadvantage has been one of if not the most difficult social challenges faced by successive governments in Australia for decades. Some would say it has been our nation's greatest failure. Incarceration rates and deaths in custody take that disadvantage to a new level.

Prior to European settlement in Australia there were no Aboriginal people incarcerated, Aboriginals were not alcoholics or drug addicts and they were not taking their own lives. European settlement changed that and we have since failed Aboriginal people who died in custody and we have failed the families who grieve their loss. To dwell on the past, however, is only of benefit if we can learn from it.

Justice will only exist where there is equality, and equality can only come when all lives have equal worth. That is our first hurdle. We will only succeed in rebuilding the lives of Aboriginal people, who see little hope in what their future holds for them, when they are treated as equals. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating, in his now famous Redfern speech of December 1992, said:

… the starting point might be to recognise that the problem starts with us non-Aboriginal Australians.

Admitting our own failures is often a hard thing to do. Paul Keating's speech was 19 years ago. We still have a long way to go and much to do. It has not necessarily been through lack of want, because successive governments have implemented well-intentioned policies and supported them with considerable funding.

Earlier this year in a speech I made in this place about this very issue I referred to statistics provided in a research paper prepared by Professor Chris Cunneen and Melanie Schwartz in 2008. The paper specifically deals with Aboriginal people and the criminal justice system and refers to issues such as: legal needs; language and cross-cultural issues; systemic issues such as adverse use of police discretion, juvenile justice diversionary issues, bail determination; and limited availability of sentencing options. It also covers restraints on effective service delivery arising from geographical isolation and remoteness including recruitment and retention of staff and lack of ability to provide a full range of legal services. The findings of that paper provide many of the answers that we may be looking for.

It is my view, however, that there is no single response or nationwide policy setting that will resolve the many disadvantages faced by Aboriginal people across Australia. Local solutions to local situations led by local people often need to be adopted if we are to cut through with meaningful change. And we must listen to the people who know best what they most need, that is, we must listen to the Aboriginal people themselves.

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