Upper house Greens MP David Shoebridge,who was deputy chair of the committee,said there was a “fundamental breakdown in trust between First Nations communities and the criminal justice system and that message was sent loud and clear in almost every submission to the inquiry”.
“Fundamental to re-establishing trust is the recommendation that all deaths in custody must be investigated and oversighted by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission,an independent statutory body,independent of the police and corrective services,” Mr Shoebridge said.
He said “one important reform was to raise the threshold for prosecution for offensive language that will prevent First Nations people being dragged before the courts for what is known as the ‘trifecta’ of offensive language,assault police and resist arrest”.
Among other recommendations was a call to set up the proposed Indigenous Walama Court inside the NSW District Court,a long-standing plan that has the backing of the District Court and the legal profession but has yet to be funded by the state government.
The report also recommends the successful Drug Court,which sits in the Sydney CBD,Parramatta and the Hunter region and focuses on supervision and rehabilitation,be expanded to Dubbo and other priority regional and remote areas.
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The committee also recommended a number of legislative changes,including amending the Coroners Act to require coroners to make findings on whether the implementation of the royal commission’s findings would have reduced the risk of death in custody in all cases involving a First Nations person.
Other legislative changes include amending the Young Offenders Act to allow young people to be given a greater number of cautions. Existing bail laws in NSW require a decision-maker to take into account any special vulnerability or needs the accused person has,including because they are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. The proposed new law would be a “standalone provision” modelled on Victorian law and take into account any issue that arises because of a person’s Aboriginality,including the person’s ties to extended family or place.
Cheryl Axelby,co-chairwoman of First Nations-led justice coalition Change the Record,welcomed the report and said its recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility “was one simple step governments could take today to fundamentally change the lives of our children and future generations”.
Ms Axelby said the inquiry’s push to expand the powers of the LECC was also a positive step.
”For many years,Change the Record and other First Nations legal and human rights organisations have been calling for real accountability and oversight of police and prisons. There cannot be any justice,accountability or trust so long as police are able to investigate and look after their own,” she said.
Ms Axelby urged the NSW Attorney-General to “act now” and said the recommendations “must not sit on a shelf for the next 30 years”.
The parliamentary committee comprised six members,including two MPs each from the government and the Labor opposition,a Greens MP and a One Nation MP.
Most of the report’s 39 recommendations had the unanimous support of the committee. One Nation upper house MP Rod Roberts objected to a handful,including the push to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
On Thursday,the federal Labor opposition pledged $90 million over four years for justice reinvestment reforms aimed at diverting at-risk Indigenous people from custody,should it win the next election.
Justice reinvestment is focused on a range of areas including school retention and family violence in order to tackle the causes of crime and recidivism.
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said theNSW government would carefully consider the report’s findings and recommendations.
“The NSW government is a signatory to the 10-year National Agreement on Closing the Gap,developed jointly by all Australian governments and the Coalition of Peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Organisations,” he said.
“The agreement takes a holistic approach to the systemic change needed to improve justice,health,education and employment outcomes. We are committed to meeting the agreement’s targets,including reducing the rate of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults and young people.”
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