“I know a lot of people want a[separate police ombudsman];it’s not that is not an attractive[model],but it’s not realistic right now,” Symes said.
The inquiry this week has heard from government witnesses about the disproportionate impact that thebail law amendments have had on Indigenous people since 2018.
In the year ending June 2022,1190 unsentenced people were held in custody,according to data supplied in government submissions to the inquiry. In the same period,735 Aboriginal men and women were discharged from prison,having been held in custody without being sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
The latest prison population figures revealed 783 Aboriginal men were in custody as of Monday,making up 13 per cent of the prison population,with 49 per cent of them unsentenced.
There were 38 Aboriginal women in custody,making up 12 per cent of the female prison population,with 44 per cent on remand. There were 11 Aboriginal young people in custody as of Wednesday,nine on remand.
The attorney-general told the commission the government got the balance wrong in 2018 when it strengthened bail laws in response to the Bourke Street massacre.
“I’m seeking to recalibrate that balance to tip it back so that we are appropriately dealing with serious offenders. But the evidence is clear,we’ve cast the net quite wide,too wide,in the bail changes and we have picked up vulnerable cohorts,including Aboriginal people,” Symes said.
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She acknowledged that self-determination would improve outcomes in the criminal justice system for Aboriginal people,but said it would take six years to implement,as forecast by the Department of Justice.
In her witness statement,Symes said one of the challenges in reforming the criminal justice system was identifying any single policy,law or operation that was the root cause of systemic injustice and structural racism.
“These issues are complex and multifaceted,” Symes said in her statement.
“I acknowledge that Aboriginal peoples face unique and pervasive inequities that go over and beyond those experienced by other vulnerable cohorts and indeed the broader community. This includes structural racism that is a product of the devastating effects of colonisation. Regrettably,our current structures,laws and policies can serve to compound those inequities.”
Responding to the Attorney-General’s submission to the inquiry,Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service’s CEO Nerita Waight said First Peoples were tired of hearing platitudes from government and instead urgently needed it to embrace the transformational change that Aboriginal communities want.
“Everybody knows the statistics and everybody knows they’re the result of invasion,colonisation,and the ongoing discrimination we face. Hearing government figures acknowledge these well-known facts does not help us,” Waight said.
“We have been asking for the same things for so long now. Aboriginal people know the solutions to the issues our communities face. As long as governments want to fix us,nothing will change.”
Police Minister Anthony Carbine and Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton will appear before the royal commission on Monday,while Corrections Minister Enver Erdogan will be grilled on Wednesday and Child Protection Minister Lizzie Blandthorn on Thursday.
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