An Indigenous researcher will be appointed to review First Nations incarceration rates in the ACT, but the review will not be completed until about four years after it was first promised.
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The ACT government had committed to the review before the 2020 election, but draft terms of reference seen by The Canberra Times reveal a final report with recommendations for action is not due to be delivered until "late 2024".
An interim report assessing the ACT government's progress in adopting the recommendations of an Australian Law Reform Commission report would be due in early 2024, with the government expecting the report in March in time to consider how to fund recommended initiatives in next year's budget.
The government expects the review to begin in September.
Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said the government was responding to community calls for a review, which had been designed in a focused way.
"We are seeking for it to be broad. We want to leave no stone unturned here," Mr Rattenbury said.
The terms of reference, which were shared with stakeholders on Thursday, said the principal consultant must be recognised by the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community as an Indigenous person.
"The researcher will deliver a report that sets out an evaluation of the extent to which the ACT government has implemented the measures recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission," the draft terms of reference said.
"Where the researcher identified that a measure has not been implemented, or only partial implementation has been achieved, the researcher should make recommendations on actions required.
"The researcher may make additional recommendations for action, where the researcher identifies additional practical measures that it considers would have an appreciable impact on overrepresentation rates of First Nations people in incarceration in the ACT."
The draft terms of reference said the researcher should "consider whether there are factors specific to the ACT that influence First Nations contact with the criminal justice system and rates of incarceration in the territory".
The government will consult with First Nations community leaders until June 16 on the terms of reference.
The Australian Law Reform Commission's "Pathways to Justice", published in December 2017, made 35 recommendations, which included changes to bail laws, repealing mandatory sentencing laws and closer collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.
Mr Rattenbury said the government had not been standing still on its efforts to reduce Indigenous over-representation in the justice system.
"If you look at the way the national approach to Closing the Gap is being carried foreward, clearly there are underlying social issues outside of the justice system that will reduce over-representation," he said.
"The surest way to keep people out of custody is to cut poverty. And so that's where calls for increase the rate of unemployment benefit and a range of other measures are incredibly important.
"Certainly my view is that justice reinvestment is central to reducing that over-representation and reducing incarceration generally."
Mr Rattenbury said all levels of government had a responsibility to act to reduce Indigenous incarceration rates.
The review will be funded using the confiscated criminal assets trust fund.
Then ACT attorney-general Gordon Ramsay and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith in August 2020 committed to the review if the government was re-elected the following month.
The government was re-elected but Mr Ramsay lost his seat and was replaced as attorney-general by Greens leader Shane Rattenbury. The next election is due to be held on October 17, 2024.
Corrections Minister Mick Gentleman on Thursday used a statement in the Legislative Assembly to note the imprisonment rate of First Nations people had been on a downward trend since 2018-19, from a high of 2124.1 Indigenous people imprisoned per 100,000 to 1770.3.
"There is no doubt that the level of overrepresentation of First Nations people in the ACT justice system is unacceptable, with the imprisonment ratio per 100,000 population indicating much higher proportional rates in comparison to the non-Indigenous population," Mr Gentleman said.
"The government is committed to addressing the overrepresentation of First Nations people in the criminal justice system as a matter of priority."
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Productivity Commission data published in January showed there 1369.4 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people imprisoned for 100,000 in 2020-21, compared to 93 people imprisoned for 100,000 of the general adult population.
About a quarter of the prison population in Canberra is Indigenous people, the data showed.
Andrew Braddock, the Greens spokesman on corrections, said the statistics on Indigenous incarceration demonstrated a sorry state of affairs.
"The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees released from prison who returned to prison with a new sentence within two years increased from 44 per cent in 2020-21, to 47.2 per cent, in 2021-22," Mr Braddock told the Assembly on Thursday.
"The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees released from prison who returned to corrective services with a new correctional sanction, which is either a custodial or community sentence, within two years also increased.
"The ACT went from 67.9 per cent in 2020-21, to 77.4 per cent in 2021-22. The ACT had the second highest return rate for First Nations people in 2021-22, behind NSW who had a 72.8 per cent return rate. This is a return rate higher than the national figure of 62.9 per cent."
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
