WHAT’S NEW IN THE MEDIA?
JUSTICE REFORM INITIATIVE, JULY 2024
Discussion Papers
These Discussion Papers focus on what is required to reduce incarceration in seven priority reform areas; police, bail, courts, drug policy, post-release, youth-justice and prisons. The papers aim to both synthesise existing data, research, and analysis, and build on this work to establish clear, evidence-based policy positions. JRI are seeking review and endorsement from organisations across Australia and encourage the papers to be shared widely.
DISCUSSION PAPERS HERE
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS TIMES, APRIL 2024
Community-led justice reinvestment initiatives secure commonwealth support
Ten justice reinvestment programs have secured support through the federal government’s First Nations justice package. Announced on Friday, the community-led initiatives follow nine initial grants delivered under the package in February.
They form part of the federal government’s $109 million First Nations justice package, with $79 million allocated to support up to 30 community-led justice reinvestment initiatives in First Nations communities across Australia.
ARTICLE HERE
ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPARTMENT, APRIL 2024
SA First Nations Voice results
View the results for the Local First Nations Voice positions in the 2024 SA First Nations Voice Election.
LINK HERE
THE CONVERSATION, MAY 2023
‘Too much money is spent on jails and policing’: What Aboriginal Communities told us about funding justice reinvestment to keep people out of prison.
Fiona Allison (Jumbunna Institute of Indigenous Education and Research, UTS), Daniel Daylight and Thomas Duncan (JustReinvest NSW) discuss their conversations with Aboriginal communities in the NSW towns of Bourke, Moree and Mount Druitt.
ARTICLE HERE
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT, AGD FEB 2023
JUSTICE REINVESTMENT (JR) PROGRAM
The federal AGD and the National Indigenous Australians Agency, through a joint First Nations Justice Taskforce, are stewarding the implementation of the Australian Labor Government’s $81.5M commitment to JR. The First Nations Justice Taskforce is partnering with the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research to facilitate national design consultations on the National JR Program and an independent National JR Unit.
MORE INFORMATION HERE
SA ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPARTMENT, NOV 22
FIRST NATIONS VOICE TO SA PARLIAMENT - ENGAGEMENT REPORT (Aug-Oct 2022)
Dale Agius is South Australia's inaugural Commissioner for First Nations Voice. The Commissioner held community engagements between August and October 2022 to seek the views of First Nations people about a Voice to the South Australian Parliament.
ENGAGEMENT REPORT READ HERE
THE AGE, 31 OCT 2022
POLICING, NOT CRIME IS BEHIND SWELLING PRISONS
Labor MP, ACT Assistant Minister for Treasury - Dr Andrew Leigh makes the financial case to reduce the country’s growing prison rates at a speech at the Australian Institute of Criminology. Rather than the crime rate, the ”issue has instead been with how we have chosen to handle complex social challenges”.
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
THE SECTOR, EARLY EDUCATION NEWS 17 JULY 2022
SA’s NEWEST GUARDIAN FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Ms Shona Reid, Reconciliation South Australia’s Chief Executive (and Justice Reinvestment SA’s Co-chair), will become the state’s newest Guardian for Children and Young People, effective 1 August 2022.
Ms Reid is excited about the opportunity to “challenge what we think is unchangeable,” and “an opportunity to critique systems and inspire”.
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
THE PREMIER OF SA JULY 2022
SA’s INAUGURAL COMMISSIONER FOR FIRST NATION’S VOICE
Dale Agius will start as the state’s first Commissioner for First Nations Voice next month to help lead the Government’s consultation with Aboriginal groups and lay the foundations for state-based implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Malinauskas Government has also extended the appointment of Dr Roger Thomas as Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement for a further six months.
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
THE AGE MARCH 2022
DOCTORS CALL TO RAISE AGE OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
The Royal Australian College of Physicians says the age of criminal responsibility must be raised to 14 years to end the jailing of mostly Indigenous primary-aged children, warning incarceration is harming their mental health.
ARTICLE READ HERE
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD MARCH 2022
INDIGENOUS GROUPS URGE ACTION:HEALTH, JUSTICE & ‘VOICE’
Leading Indigenous advocacy groups have called on the Coalition and Labor to promise major reforms to the justice, health and welfare systems ahead of the federal election, and for a Voice to Parliament to be enshrined in the constitution.
ARTICLE READ HERE
NITV MARCH 2022
CALL IT OUT - FIRST NATIONS RACISM REGSITER
The 'Call It Out' register asks Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to anonymously log such incidents to build an understanding of the scale of rrecism in Australia. Created by Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research & the National Justice Project.
WEBSITE VIEW HERE
DEPARTMENT FOR HUMAN SERVICES 15 JULY 2021
TIRAAPENDI WODLI PORT ADELAIDE HUB LAUNCH
The new Syd Sparrow Training Room was unveiled yesterday at the Tiraapendi Wodli Port Adelaide Justice Reinvestment hub with a host of special guests including Auntie Yvonne Agius, Tiraapendi Wodli members, Premier Marshall, Minister Lensink, Shona Reid, Hon Dr Robyn Layton QC, Jai O’Toole, Aboriginal Community Advocates and the Red Cross Team.
“Tiraapendi Wodli” means ‘protecting home’ in Kaurna language. At the heart of Tiraapendi Wodli hub community is the commitment to making sure Aboriginal people’s voices are at the centre of the design and delivery of programs and services.
Syd Sparrow (who sadly passed away in 2020), was a founding member of Tiraapendi Wodli and a proud Ngarrindjeri man. Syd had a deep commitment and longstanding experience in advocating for Aboriginal young people. He would be very proud to see how Tiraapendi Wodli and the work of the Hub continues to ‘walk alongside’ local families and to expand the many services and supports available to them.
Justice Reinvestment SA and Australian Red Cross work closely with Tiraapendi Wodli to provide practical support and advocacy for community-led programs. This celebration also marked a continued SA Government commitment to Aboriginal families in western Adelaide.
Since relocating to a more central venue in Dale Street in Port Adelaide, there has been a significant increase in the number of community members accessing the hub. It currently receives more than 200 visits per month with families, men, women and young people seeking a range of services provided by the Aboriginal Families Thrive program including individual and family support meetings, workshops, training programs, yarning groups and counselling sessions.
The collaboration with the Tiraapendi Wodli Community, Red Cross, Justice Reinvestment SA (JRSA) and the SA Government is growing from strength to strength.
Learn more about the hub at tiraapendiwodli.org.au
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD JUNE 2021
AUSTRALIA IS NOT CLOSING THE GAP - 3 GRAPHS
High rates of Indigenous suicide, and the over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care and adults in prison, have worsened in what a senior Indigenous leader calls a “strong indictment on the nation”. SMH
ARTICLE READ HERE
ABC NEWS JULY 2021
ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES - NEW TRAINING AND DICTIONARIES
The Kaurna language and others are now being revived with the help of linguists and, for the first time, tailored training courses to help language learners pass their skills back to their communities.
ARTICLE READ HERE
THE GUARDIAN APR 2021
LABOR PLEDGES $90M TO REDUCE INDIGENOUS INCARCERATION AND DEATHS
Labor says it would launch a national justice reinvestment program with funding for more than 30 communities to design programs focused on rehabilitation, family and domestic violence and school retention, with the aim of diverting those at risk away from the justice system.
ARTICLE READ HERE
THE GUARDIAN SEPT 2020
NUMBER OF CHILDREN ON REMAND IN VICTORIA DOUBLED IN A DECADE TO 2020
Up to two-thirds of children denied bail in Victoria were in custody unnecessarily, the state’s children’s commissioner has said, after A REPORT found two-thirds of those on remand did not go on to receive a custodial sentence.
ARTICLE READ HERE
CHANGE THE RECORD SEPT 2020
RAISE THE AGE
The Aboriginal-led justice coalition Change the Record has condemned the harsh, punitive bail laws which see children locked up who should never have been put in prison in the first place. Children should not be punished for the poverty, inequality and systemic discrimination that is a result of failed government policy.
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
ACT GOVERNMENT SEPT 2020
ACT’S REDUCING RECIDIVISM PLAN 2020-2023
The Plan expands on the ACT Government’s justice reinvestment initiative, ‘Building Communities Not Prisons’. The ACT Government is investing more than $132 million to develop and implement evidence‑based programs focused on rehabilitation and reintegration, addressing the root causes of recidivism.
PLAN READ HERE
THE GUARDIAN JUNE 2020
PUNITIVE POLICING DOESN’T MAKE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE FEEL SAFER: COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS CAN
Explores a culture of policing and an experience of oppression that pervades Aboriginal lives. It is about the inherent racism of systems that do not support Aboriginal people to lead their own solutions.
ARTICLE READ HERE
CHANGE THE RECORD JUNE 2020
END BLACK DEATHS IN CUSTODY
Change the Record has called on the Prime Minister, S/T Ministers and National Cabinet to implement five key recommendations to end black deaths in custody: more than 400 Aboriginal people have died in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION JUNE 2020
INDIGENOUS EVALUATION STRATEGY
Draft Indigenous Evaluation Strategy - whole-of-government framework for Australian Government agencies to use when selecting, conducting, using evaluations of policies/programs affecting Aboriginal peoples. Invitation open for written submissions on draft framework.
NEWS RELEASE READ HERE
THE GUARDIAN JUNE 2020
“DEATHS INSIDE” DATABASE
This database tracks every known Indigenous death in custody in Australia from 2008 to 2020. A detailed description of definitions used including categories and methods used to compile the data is provided. Individual cases can be viewed by tapping on the squares.
DATABASE ACCESS HERE
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, APRIL 2020
Desperate times calls for desperate times in prisons.
Hundreds of criminal justice experts have written to Australian governments, calling for drastic and unprecedented measures to avert a COVID-19 outbreak in prisons and youth detention centres around the country.
READ THE ARTICLE AND LETTER HERE
SACOSS 22 JANUARY 2020
SACOSS State Budget Submission 2020-21: Justice Reinvestment.
”Our Vision: A Surplus of Opportunity for all South Australians” recommends 24 initiatives to the SA government including establishing a regional JR pilot program for Aboriginal young people.
NEWS RELEASE READ HERE
SBS NEWS 30 NOVEMBER 2019
Advocates disappointed by refusal to lift age of criminal responsibility.
Advocates say they are disappointed with the refusal by Australia’s Attorney-Generals meeting in Adelaide to decide to lift the age of criminal responsibility from 10-14 years.
NEWS RELEASE READ HERE
SBS NEWS 30 NOVEMBER 2019
Aboriginal mural artist calls for more Indigenous artists within schools to tackle racism, stereotypes
"If we're really serious about this thing called 'reconciliation' — which we hear about once every year during Reconciliation Week — then it has to start with young kids in schools"
NEWS RELEASE READ HERE
THE CONVERSATION 27 NOVEMBER 2019
Does our child protection system cause young people to commit crimes? The evidence suggests so.
Tamara Walsh investigates the ‘cross over’ between child protection and youth justice.
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
THE CONVERSATION 4 NOVEMBER 2019
A new bill keeping 10 year olds out of jail is a good start, but it needs to go further.
Thomas Crofts examines the potential of the private member’s bill currently before the federal parliament.
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT 30 OCTOBER 2019
Indigenous Voice
Information about opportunities for Indigenous Australians to have their say on the development of an Indigenous voice to government.
INFORMATION READ HERE
ten20 FOUNDATION MAY 2019
Funding community-led place based practice
This research report commissioned by ten20 in partnership with Social Ventures Australia and TACSI (and with input from community-led initiatives (including Maranguka: Bourke justice reinvestment) explores insights and actions for funders and communities working together in this space.
REPORT READ HERE
THE GUARDIAN 13 JULY 2019
Canberra has the answers - just not where you might expect them.
Ben Oquist (The Australia Institute) explores the positive response the majority of Australians are having to the ACT Labor-Greens government’s policies including justice reinvestment (supported by 88% of Australians surveyed).
THE GUARDIAN 25 JUNE 2019
The school-to-prison pipeline: how the criminal justice system fails at-risk kids.
Sarah Hopkins: Managing solicitor of Justice Projects at the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT and chair of Just Reinvest NSW.
ACT GOVERNMENT: MINISTER SHANE RATTENBURY - MEDIA RELEASE 3 JUNE 2019
In a series of major Budget initiatives, the ACT Government will further expand nation-leading Justice Reinvestment efforts, investing a further $70.9 million to ‘build communities, not prisons’.
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRES, NSW - 6 APRIL 2019
What can we learn from Justice Reinvestment? - Mark Riboldi, Advocacy and Communications Manager at Community Legal Centres NSW highlights the importance of community-led justice reinvestment like the Maranguka Justice Reinvestment project in Bourke, NSW.
ARTICLE READ HERE
GUARDIAN FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE (SA) 21 MAY 2019
Aboriginal children and young people in care and juvenile detention 2017-18
Aboriginal children make up a third (33 per cent) of children and young people in out-of-home care in South Australia. This is despite constituting less than five per cent of the state’s total population of children and young people.
Aboriginal children and young people represent 34 per cent of those in residential care, with the majority placed in foster and relative-kinship care.
As the number of Aboriginal children and young people entering care has increased, the percentage placed in accordance with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP) has fallen. In 2018, 65 per cent were placed in accordance with the ATSICPP, down from 74.4 per cent in 2009.
WEBSITE LINK HERE
PUBLICATION READ HERE
LABOR PARTY MEDIA RELEASE 26 APRIL 2019
Closing the Indigenous Justice Gap and Justice Reinvestment
Senator Patrick Dodson and Mark Dreyfus QC MP
Media release announcing Shorten Labor Government multi-million dollar package to address the disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the justice system including:
Progressing Justice Reinvestment
($21.75 million over 4 years)Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) ($40 million over 4 years)
Family Violence Prevention grants to address high rates of violence against Indigenous women
Adoption of Closing the Gap justice targets
MEDIA RELEASE READ HERE
THE GUARDIAN ARTICLE READ HERE
CHANGE THE RECORD 18 APRIL 2019
Indigenous Legal Assistance Program (ILAP) - Campaign to continue 50 year commitment
Change the Record in partnership with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) has launched a petition calling on the next government to retain the only dedicated national program addressing disadvantage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system, the Indigenous Legal Assistance Program.
JRSA was one of 80+ signatures on an OPEN LETTER to the Attorney-General Christian Porter and Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on this subject.
RADIO NATIONAL: THE LAW REPORT
26 MARCH 2019
Mandatory Drug Rehab for Children
Should mandatory drug and/or alcohol rehabilitation for children be considered? In South Australia, there is a short nine-page bill currently before parliament. In Victoria, a Children’s Court Magistrate has built a broad support base for a secure therapeutic facility.
Discussion with: Penny Wright (SA Guardian for Children and Young People), Jennifer Bowles (Magistrate Children’s Court Victoria) and Peter Stockton (Victorian Youth and Advocacy Service)
THE DRUM 15 FEBRUARY 2019
Women in Australia’s Prison System
Host: Julia Baird / Panel: Cheryl Axleby, Antoinette Braybrook, Josephine Cashman, Eileen Baldry and Debbie Kilroy.
QUEENSLAND PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION FEBRUARY 2019
Inquiry into imprisonment and recidivism
Release of draft report into how government resources and policies may be best used to reduce imprisonment and recidivism to improve outcomes for the community.
CHANGE THE RECORD 26 FEBRUARY 2019
Australia is criminalising Aboriginal women at the fastest rates…and most are survivors of violence.
THE CONVERSATION 21 FEBRUARY 2019
Australian Governments should follow the ACT’s lead in building communities, not prisons -
including the decision not to expand the prison and instead to redirect $14.5 million into a range of community programs, legislative reforms and policy initiatives.
CHANGE THE RECORD 14 FEBRUARY 2019
Australians want Prime Minister to act to Close the Gap on justice
THE CONVERSATION 11 DECEMBER 2018
As Indigenous incarceration rates keep rising, justice reinvestment offers a solution
Chris Cunneen (UTS) and Sophie Russell (UNSW)
THE GUARDIAN 18 SEPTEMBER 2018
Plea from 35 human rights, justice and community groups for action on Indigenous Australians in prison
THE LAW SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
2018-19 State Budget: An overview of Justice Measures - Comment on implications of SA Govt justice measures to 2021-22