The Close the Gap campaign was first launched in April 2007, following the release of a 2005 social justice report that called for the Australian government to commit to achieving equal health and life expectancy by 2030. Since a statement of intent was signed in 2008, a yearly report has been published and targets often added and updated.

Whilst the government reassessed the justice targets in 2020, Law Council president Dr Jacoba Brasch QC said that the current target of reducing indigenous incarceration by at least 15 per cent by 2031 is still far too low, with parity not achieved until 2093.

“Better justice outcomes are inextricably linked to action on social issues such as housing, mental health and disability, education, out-of-home care, and domestic and family violence prevention. In these areas, the funding and implementation of culturally appropriate services provided through Indigenous-led organisations is crucial,” she said.

“The Law Council recognises and welcomes the significant measures included in the federal budget that provide additional funding for Family Violence Prevention Legal Services and dedicated funding for First Nations women who have experienced family violence, as well as significant Indigenous specific suicide and mental health measures.”

Dr Brasch added that there are countless reforms that could be enacted to contribute to the reduction of Indigenous incarceration rates. This includes implementing the recommendations in a number of reports and consultations such as the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and Australian Law Reform Commission’s Pathways to Justice, raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years, and bail and sentencing reform.

Last month, dozens of submissions to the attorneys-general were made public in a push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Australia.

Almost 50 organisations called for the minimum age to be raised nationally to 14 without any exceptions, while 96 per cent said the current laws were contributing to the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in prison.

VIEW ALL

In addition to this, bail laws in Victoria are presently disproportionately affecting women – 53 per cent of women in Victorian prisons have not been found guilty of what they’ve been arrested for.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said in a statement last week that Aboriginal women and children in particular are suffering as a result of the bail laws.

“It was reported over the weekend that Aboriginal women are imprisoned at 20 times the rate of non-Aboriginal women. That figure is a disgrace and utterly heartbreaking,” she said.

“When you take into account the fact that many imprisoned women are mothers and also primary carers, it becomes evident that the Andrews Government’s bail laws are at odds with two of its commitments under the Closing The Gap Agreement – reducing the over incarceration of Aboriginal people and reducing the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children being removed from their families.”

Last year, the 12th Closing the Gap report revealed that five of seven of the Closing the Gap targets are not on track.

The Northern Territory government has also just announced new changes to the youth bail law that means more young people can be refused bail and remanded in the youth detention system.

Amnesty International Australia spokesman Rodney Dillon said in a statement that the NT government had “picked up the royal commission report and thrown it in the bin”.

“Let’s be clear: no-one wants youth crime. But cracking down on Indigenous kids – because all the kids in the NT justice system are Indigenous – who have complex needs, by throwing them in jail fixes nothing,” he said.

“What it does is condemn young kids to the quicksand of the youth justice system, and it entrenches recidivism, which is what all the politicians say they want to address.”

Dr Brasch said that the new reforms in the NT could cause serious consequences for the Closing the Gap targets – and that different governments and states need to work together to Close the Gap for good.

“There is a need for all governments to work together to ensure that measures in some jurisdictions, such as the recent youth justice legislation recently passed in the Northern Territory which will cause serious adverse consequences, does not undermine the overall progress made under Closing the Gap targets,” she said.

“The Commonwealth, States and Territories all have shared responsibilities to work together to achieve the justice targets for adults and young people.”