The Minister for Indigenous Australians has warned that too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are being incarcerated, pointing to punitive laws across Australia — particularly in the Northern Territory — which experts say run counter to the goals of the Closing the Gap agreement.
Since coming to power last year, the CLP government in the NT has introduced sweeping reforms that experts say have disproportionately affected First Nations people. These include lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10 — reversing reforms introduced by the previous Labor government — and tightening bail laws.
According to March quarter data, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 37 per cent of the national prison population. Speaking at a NAIDOC Week event in Darwin, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said: "We have to reduce those numbers."
In the NT, more than one per cent of the population is in prison; nearly half of them on remsnd, awaiting trial. Senator McCarthy highlighted this imbalance, noting, "Bail and remand are key drivers of the disproportionately high incarceration rates of First Nations young people and adults."
She said she was "committed" to working with governments across the country, "who hold the levers of change in the justice system".
"This is serious business, too many of our people are being locked up unnecessarily," the senator said.
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Without naming them directly, the Yanyuwa woman issued one of her strongest criticisms yet of the NT government, saying: "While Corrections is doing what they can, it is NT laws that are driving this situation. It is unacceptable for both prisoners and staff."
"Our prisons are holding people who have not been convicted of a crime because of laws which drastically reduce the circumstances under which they can be granted bail," she said.
"As the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody made clear, the best way to reduce First Nations deaths in custody is to reduce the high incarceration rate of our people.
"This is what the Commonwealth government is focusing on, it is what I am focusing on — especially through the national agreement across the country on Closing the Gap."
Senator McCarthy also highlighted the work justice reinvestment initiatives have had on communities, including in Groote Eylandt, where there has been an almost 88 per cent decline in offences in the last six years.
"We are investing in areas that we know will keep Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people out of the justice system, and we're rolling out those community-led justice reinvestment initiatives," she said.
"This is where we are trying to work at the federal level...we need the Northern Territory laws to support that."
The number of young people held in detention has more than doubled since April, according to Anthony Bevan, Chief Executive of the Northern Australia Aboriginal Justice Agency.
Earlier this year, Independent MP Yiŋiya Mark Guyula also raised concerns with the United Nations, requesting a visit from the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples due to conditions in NT facilities.
"My office is hearing terrible stories about what is happening in police watch houses," said Mr Guyula, a Yolŋu man of the Djambarrpuyŋu clan and the Liya-Dhälinymirr people.
"We are hearing that people are being held for weeks and months in terrible conditions where there is severe overcrowding, access to showers is only happening every 4 or more days, the lights are on all the time so people can't sleep, people are sometimes sleeping quite near to toilet bowls because there is no space."
Last year, in a survey of children between the ages of 10 and 13 in NT detention — 94 per cent identified as Aboriginal; 77 per cent had mental health needs or a cognitive disability; and 47 per cent had been diagnosed with multiple cognitive disabilities.
This week, the long-awaited coronial inquest findings into the 2019 police shooting of 19-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker were released. Coroner Elisabeth Armitage noted that Mr Walker's death did not occur in isolation and commented on the broader systemic issues impacting his life.
"Given his ongoing levels of recidivism, it seems reasonably clear that detention neither deterred nor rehabilitated Kumanjayi, and his isolation from family and community likely had a deleterious effect on his overall prospects for rehabilitation both in and out of detention," she wrote.
Her findings also pointed to systemic racism in the NT Police Force and called for more community control.
While Acting Police Commissioner Martin Dole and the NT Police's Cultural Reform Command Director Leanne Liddle have made public statements abhorring racism and promising change, the NT government has yet to fully respond. This contrasts with other high-profile events where Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has swiftly commented and promised legislative changes.
Senator McCarthy said she looked forward to a more substantive response from the Chief Minister, who is expected to speak at the NAIDOC ball on Saturday evening.
"I encourage the Northern Territory Government to carefully review and consider the recommendations in full," she said. "It is time to be at the table with First Nations people."
On Friday, Mr Walker's family called on organisations and agencies to "recognise our leadership and join us in partnership".
"Now is the time to genuinely listen, to clear the path for our autonomy, and to provide the resources and support that will enable us to shape our own future," they said.
