Calling out the inaction of successive governments,including his own,Dodson said on Sunday that the Albanese government had an obligation to act on the findings and ensure the safety of people taken into custody,saying he would have some “very robust discussions” with Dreyfus about what action needed to occur.
Responding to Dodson’s remarks,Dreyfus pointed to government work already underway on criminal justice reform,including a $99 million First Nations justice package funded in the October budget and working with states and territories on a proposal to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
“I agree with Senator Dodson that 32 years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody,rates of incarcerated First Nations adults and youth are unacceptable,” Dreyfus said.
“As I have said before,and I will say again,First Nations incarceration rates and deaths in custody are a national shame.”
He said a First Nations taskforce,comprising officials from the attorney-general’s department and the National Indigenous Australians Agency,was leading the rollout of the justice package. He claimed this amounted to an unprecedented investment by the Commonwealth in justice reinvestment initiatives,which will funnel funding and resources from the criminal justice system into local community-based programs aimed at breaking the cycle of offending.
In a speech in the lower house on Monday,Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said Indigenous Australians were being failed by the justice system,but did not directly address Dodson’s calls for immediate action on the outstanding recommendations,while backing the government’s justice reinvestment commitments.
“Too many of our people are being robbed of their futures by a justice system that has failed them,” Burney said.