Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

tor THORPE () (): I rise to speak about the government's commitment to justice reinvestment. Around $6 billion of federal funding is spent every year on prisons and police, on a violent, harmful and expensive system that does nothing to build safer communities—and to what end? More black bodies in jail? Families torn apart? Kids taken from their homes? And, when blackfellas go to jail, there is no guarantee we'll come out. Going to prison makes people more likely to offend. We need to urgently move money away from prisons and police and invest in place based social support systems in our communities so that our people have access to health, housing, education and employment and don't end up in jail. That is what 'justice reinvestment' actually means, Labor. It's very effective.

I welcome the additional funding in the A-G's Justice Reinvestment Program, but justice reinvestment is also about taking money out of policing and prisons and reinvesting in the community. There are successful First Nations place based community approaches all over this country, but the resourcing for this work remains tiny and, in many places, nonexistent. Using $40 million of NIAA money for the Northern Territory Police Force is an absolute shame. (Time expired)