Uncomfortable time, why camest
thou now?
Romeo
& Juliet Act 4, scene 5
Indigenous incarceration has been in the news
for the last week or so, driven by the upswell in concern internationally of
the treatment of African Americans by that nation’s police forces. There have
been numerous articles in the media (link here
to just one of many) , and the media pressure has led the Federal Minister for Indigenous
Australians to issue a statement (link
here).
The Minister’s statement is replete with
platitudes and rhetoric, and lacks any commitment to new action apart from the
suggestion that the refreshed Closing the Gap targets developed in partnership
with First Nations interests would include an as yet unspecified target. I
recommend readers examine it closely for themselves.
In particular, what is missing is any direct reference
to the reform agenda provided by the Australian Law Reform Commission’s 2016
Inquiry into the Incarceration Rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander People, initiated at the request of the current Government, and
undertaken by Judge Matthew Myers, the first Indigenous judge appointed to the
Federal Court.
My April 2020 post (link
here) on the lack of implementation commitment and action by the present Government
on this issue is a stark reminder of what is at stake. As I stated in that post
(do read the full post):
What is crystal clear is that
two years on, the Australian government as well as the states and territories
who are primarily responsible for our criminal justice systems have done
absolutely nothing.
In his approach to this issue, the Minister for
Indigenous Australians (I use his title advisedly) is trying to walk astride a
barbed wire fence, one leg on the side of Indigenous Australians, the other leg
on the side of a Government determined to manage the issue rather than address
its substantive and underlying causes. He must be feeling rather uncomfortable.
