Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to alert the House to some concerning results of recent reports into Indigenous disadvantage in Australia. The 2014 Overcoming Indigenous disadvantage report by the Productivity Commission shows incredibly disturbing trends in the areas of justice and mental health. The report reveals a startling increase in the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imprisonment, with Indigenous youth imprisoned at 24 times the rate of non-Indigenous young people, as well as a 74 per cent increase in the number of Indigenous women going to jail since 2000. Overall, there has been a 57 per cent increase in Indigenous incarceration over the last 13 years.

The report also highlighted an alarming increase in high levels of psychological distress and hospitalisation for intentional self-harm. The Law Council of Australia says it is now a national crisis which requires urgent action. I agree. The Social Justice and Native Title Report 2014 from the social justice commissioner Mick Gooda, tabled in parliament just last week, reaffirmed this view. We need to revisit the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and assess how we are going against them. Twenty-two years down the track, the recommendations are still as relevant today as they were then. I urge the government to revise its current position on targets, as part of the Close the Gap initiative, to include holistic justice targets aimed at promoting safer communities as recommended by Mr Gooda. (Time expired)