Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move

That the Senate take note of the document.

I wish to make a few comments on the report of the Review of the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. This document was tabled as a result of an order for the production of documents that the Senate passed on a motion from me. It relates to the implementation of the 339 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. It was a report that the minister commissioned that, in fact, cost a significant amount of money. In Senate estimates we established that the report cost $691,793, of which $198,447 came from departmental funding and $493,346 came from the Indigenous Advancement Strategy; in fact, under a safety and wellbeing program. It was a review that people have been calling for for a long time. People have been calling for a long time for an understanding of which 339 recommendations have been implemented.

It was a desktop study that, in fact, relied on the states and territories to self-assess. I've got to say I have some significant issues with that self-assessment in terms of what they say is now implemented. If they've funded one particular program where the funding has now run out, that's counted as that recommendation being at least partially implemented, which I think is of very deep concern. I very much call into question the analysis of what has been implemented and what's been partially implemented, given that we are seeing an ever-worsening rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people going into the justice system; in particular, Deputy President, in our home state of Western Australia but also in other states around the country.

That's not to mention, obviously, the most important fact: we are still seeing deaths in custody. We've seen 407 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the royal commission, with 147 over the past decade. Not only are we seeing these deaths in custody in our home state of Western Australia, Deputy President; we are seeing the awful reasons people are going into custody. In the case of Ms Dhu it was for fine defaults. She then, unfortunately, died in custody. We aren't seeing the issues being adequately addressed. I'd argue very strongly that the implementation of these recommendations has not gone as far as the reading of the report suggests. We're also seeing Aboriginal people dying in custody from ailments and conditions that they should not be dying of. In other words, they are not receiving the medical attention that they should be receiving in the justice system.

It is now almost 30 years since the royal commission report was tabled, and we're still seeing incarceration rates increasing. They have not decreased as a result of implementation. These are very strong recommendations, so I'd argue very strongly that they have not been adequately implemented. In fact, we've seen a doubling of the incarceration rate since the completion of the royal commission report. We are not getting it right in this country. Imprisonment is not a solution to poverty and social issues, and one of the royal commission recommendations was around imprisonment as a last resort. We are not seeing that implemented around the country. We are not seeing imprisonment being imposed as the last resort—clearly not, when we're seeing people end up in prison as a result of fine default and not paying their fines. In some instances, people don't even know that they've been fined in the first place. The first they know of it is when the police come knocking on their doors.

According to the government's own report, some of the key areas that have not been implemented relate to the cycle of offending, self-determination and non-custodial approaches. I particularly want to focus on this issue of self-determination. It is absolutely critical. It comes out so strongly in the royal commission report. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.