The Change the Record Coalition today welcomed Prime Minister Turnbull’s announcement of $100 million of funding targeted at addressing family and domestic violence, but expressed disappointment that the package fails to prioritise essential legal services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s safety.
Date: Wednesday, 19th August 2015
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (QLD) Ltd (ATSILS) welcomes the announcement by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk that the Queensland Government will implement all 140 recommendations in the landmark report Not Now, Not Ever: Putting an End to Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland.
ATSILS Chief Executive Officer Shane Duffy said, “The rate in which Queenslanders are experiencing domestic and family violence is unacceptable and we welcome the government’s strong response to this significant human rights issue.”
The report states that the number of domestic violence incidents reported to Queensland Police rose from 58,000 in 2011-12 to 66,000 in 2013-14. This equates to more than 180 incidents every day, an alarming indication of the scope the problem we face. For marginalised groups within the community such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the statistics are even more devastating.
Mr Duffy said “Within the communities we service the issue of domestic and family violence is exceedingly critical. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of violence and are 15 times more likely to seek support from homelessness services.”
Past trauma is a core driver of violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and for other situational factors that contribute to violence and crime, including poverty, unemployment, drug and alcohol use, and poor health.
“Long term, the rates of domestic and family violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities cannot be curtailed unless we see more investment in resources and strategies that address the underlying drivers of crime and violence” Mr Duffy said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people need better access to housing, education, health and social services in order to overcome disadvantage. During the refinement phase of the draft Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Strategy, ATSILS welcomes the opportunity to provide input and engage with the government in designing long term solutions to the crisis. Solutions based on intervention, prevention and diversion strategies which form the basis of a justice reinvestment approach ATSILS has been advocating for.
This approach will facilitate the development of smarter, evidence-based and more cost-effective solutions that, increase safety, address the root causes of violence against women and children, cut reoffending and imprisonment rates, and ultimately build stronger communities.
A strong coordinated approach inclusive of all sections of the community is required and ATSILS is committed to working together with the government and all Queenslanders to drive cultural change and end the violence.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS) is calling on the Palaszczuk Government to show leadership and champion change by adopting a justice reinvestment approach to address the state’s incarceration crisis. The call comes in the wake of Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) figures that reveal more people in Queensland are living behind bars than ever before.
Shane Duffy, Chief Executive Officer of ATSILS, said “we would welcome an opportunity to engage with the government to discuss long term solutions to the crisis based on intervention, prevention and diversion strategies which form the basis of a Justice Reinvestment approach.”
The QCS figures show a 20% surge in the state’s prison numbers in just two years, and confirms the state’s prison population is the highest on record at more than 7200. All 12 of the state’s high security facilities are currently operating at beyond capacity and serious overcrowding has seen a doubling in the rate of reported assaults.
A considerable factor in the crisis is the gross over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland prisons. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people currently make up less than 4% of the state’s population, however account for nearly a third of the state’s inmates. Various governments tough on crime policies have disproportionately affected the most disadvantaged in the community and have put a strain on our prison system at great public expense.
With such high Indigenous representation in the crisis, ATSILS urges the government to work in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities, services and their representatives, to develop and implement justice reinvestment solutions.
Mr Duffy said “coming from a deficit position the government can no longer invest in costly, unsustainable prison infrastructure at the expense of affordable housing, education, mental health and social services that are vital to the fabric of thriving safe communities.”
Justice reinvestment is an approach that has had success in the USA and fundamental to the approach is investment in community services that tackle the underlying root causes of crime. Justice reinvestment makes a very strong economic argument to better utilise tax payer funds. Currently there is a pilot scheme happening in Bourke, NSW and ATSILS hope to see the Justice Reinvestment approach adopted in communities across Queensland.
The current crisis presents a great opportunity for the new government to charter a course of innovative change and localise justice reinvestment approaches specific to the challenges we face in Queensland.
Media Contact: Joshua Herd – 0439 561 775 or joshua.herd@atsils.org.au