The Northern Territory government has launched a wide-ranging plan to reduce high rates of Indigenous incarceration, but questions remain over when some proposed reforms will be implemented and how others will be funded.
The Labor government committed to developing the Aboriginal Justice Agreement (AJA) in 2016. Five years later, it has released a one-year action plan and seven-year framework.
The agreement, developed by the government in partnership with Indigenous and non-government organisations, is the result of more than 160 consultations across three years and more than 120 communities.
"The justice agreement is actually the template, the roadmap that will transform and dictate a new way of doing business in the justice system for Aboriginal people," Leanne Liddle, an Arrernte woman who led the consultations, said.
"This agreement ensures that 30 per cent of the population of the Northern Territory [who are Indigenous] are included in the justice system."
Its three aims are to reduce Indigenous reoffending and incarceration, support Indigenous leadership and overcome systemic challenges, such as racism, faced by Indigenous people navigating the justice system.
Within those aims are 13 target commitments that include offering more alternative sentencing options, establishing community courts and reducing rates of domestic violence.
About 85 per cent of the NT's prison population are Indigenous people, who are incarcerated at 12 times the rate of their non-Indigenous peers.
No time line for law reform
There is currently no clear funding commitment for the life of the agreement.
There was no additional funding for the work in the May budget, but NT Attorney-General Selena Uibo described $4.52 million now set aside for the first year as a "firm financial commitment".
She also confirmed the government had partnered with an unnamed philanthropic organisation to deliver the plan, and said she was confident it would be fully funded.
"What we would look at in the longer term, of course, over a seven-year period, is through the regular budgetary process to Cabinet to be able to ensure that our financial commitment remains for the Aboriginal Justice Agreement well and truly past the political cycles," she said.
There also appears to be no firm time line for reviewing and reforming sentencing legislation found to be unfair or discriminatory towards Indigenous people, which is among the 13 commitments.
Among the areas targeted for reform is mandatory sentencing legislation — the subject of a two-year report by the NT Law Reform Committee released today.
The committee has recommended repealing some mandatory minimum non-parole periods enshrined in current legislation, as well as abolishing mandatory life sentences for murder and allowing courts to impose lesser sentences if circumstances warrant that.
It concluded the NT's incarceration rates would decrease if the government accepted its recommendations, and offending could be reduced if community-based sentencing options were well-resourced.
Ms Uibo today said her government would "continue to consider" the recommendations.
She also denied the AJA was contrary to the intent of recently passed laws that made it more difficult for young offenders to get bail, saying the agreement was a larger piece of work focused on addressing the causes of crime.
Ms Liddle said her team would now turn its attention to working with the public sector to deliver the 13 commitments.
