Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has urged the federal government to take "real action to address the incarceration crisis" as the Standing Council of Attorneys-General (SCAG) meets on Friday.
The outspoken Senator said that despite the Commonwealth's commitments to Closing the Gap, many state and territory policies in recent years have undermined those goals. These include changes to bail laws in Victoria and NSW, lowering the age of criminal responsibility in the Northern Territory, and allowing children as young as ten to face life sentences in Queensland.
Earlier this week, figures revealed a record number of Indigenous adults in prison in NSW, whilst in the Northern Territory — which has the second-highest incarceration rate in the world behind El Salvador — the family of former NT Justice James Henry Muirhead AC QC has called on the Prime Minister to intervene, describing the NT Government's current approach as "regressive actions currently being pursued".
Senator Thorpe, who has long criticised government inaction on Indigenous deaths in custody and human rights, said there is no concrete plan to address the crisis, despite "child stealing, jailing, deaths in custody and suicides are all getting worse".
She argued the latest Closing the Gap data "should have triggered a national reckoning".
"Instead, we see states and territories continuing to introduce punitive laws that are making things worse," the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman said.
She called on Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy — who attended the SCAG meeting — to pressure states and territories into urgent national action on incarceration, deaths in custody and child removals. She said the Commonwealth must use its legislative power to set national minimum standards across the criminal legal system.
"We don't need more reviews, reports or inquiries — we need action. Governments already know the solutions because our people have been telling them for decades. What's missing is the political will to act," the Victorian senator said.
"The Attorney-General meeting is an opportunity to turn this around. The federal government must show leadership, use its powers, and step in when states and territories are harming our people. Anything less is complicity in this crisis."
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In a statement after the meeting, Senator McCarthy said she had been invited to address SCAG about the "escalating numbers of First Nations people in prisons across the country, in particular our youth, and reiterated that deaths in custody have to stop".
"I called on state and territory Attorneys-General to do more to reduce the incarceration rates of First Nations adults and young people," she said.
"State and territory governments have a responsibility to make decisions that align with their commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap."
Senator McCarthy said she had met with the NT Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro, earlier this week, where she said she "made very clear the concerns I have in regards to First Nations youths in watch houses and the reintroduction of spithoods".
"The Northern Territory has the worst outcomes when it comes to Closing the Gap," she said.
"I have listened to the concerns of the First Nations sector, legal organisations and human rights groups.
"As Minister for Indigenous Australians, I will continue working with my ministerial colleagues to keep state and territories accountable for their commitments to close the gap on justice outcomes."
While justice policy largely sits with the states, advocates have pushed for the federal government to use funding and other leverage to ensure adherence to Closing the Gap targets.
"We know there is plenty the federal government can do," Senator Thorpe said.
"If states are breaching their Closing the Gap targets — especially on incarceration and child removals — there must be real consequences."
Her immediate priorities for the government include creating a national oversight body to monitor and drive implementation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Bringing Them Home report; convening an urgent National Cabinet meeting on deaths in custody and youth incarceration; and establishing human rights–aligned minimum standards for prisons and youth justice.
She also called for guaranteed equitable access to healthcare for people in custody and an expansion of First Nations-led crisis response services to reduce police contact and incarceration.
Senator McCarthy said the federal government had funded "successful justice reinvestment programs in Groote Eylandt and Maningrida," she argued "show working with First Nations people does deliver positive results".
"Reducing incarceration rates is a joint responsibility, and I urged the Attorneys-General to return to their jurisdictions and work with their cabinet colleagues to look at these and other initiatives that are making a difference," she added.
