An Indigenous policy vacuum – crisis or normalised dysfunction? Geoff Scott ANTAR Election Blog

The current Indigenous policy crisis is, I think, without any doubt at its lowest point in decades.

A complete rethink is required, with a positive suggestion to go forward.

Where we are now

The Indigenous Affairs arena has become a political play toy of governments and commentators, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike.

The current policy efforts and discussions centre around Closing the Gap strategy as the priority with a side order of drip down economics ‘epiphany’ and justice ‘one upmanship’ activity. There is little that can be identified to suggest a better way forward.

The real story is that Indigenous people are an immature politick without structure and focus. Unable to develop a way forward, unable to represent or advocate for our own, the major initiatives – Closing the Gap – are subsumed in the processes of government and have now become an agent of government(s) and subordinate to government(s).

The figures, dimensions and failings of the Closing the Gap targets have been normalised and do not incite any tension or urgency. They have become an acceptable, if not surreal, reality.

The Close the Gap initiative commenced with much fanfare and was a great concept in theory but in practice it was a recurring failure. Now no-one aside from those on the inside actually know what is happening or where it is going, and the current annual ritual of hand wringing and agreement on very expensive and persistent failure is unacceptable. A complete rethink is required.

The various attempts to bureaucratise the Indigenous leadership and Indigenise the bureaucracy have all failed. The task of having legitimacy and credibility in both worlds has proven difficult, if not impossible.

The Voice Referendum offered a way forward but it was rejected by over nine million Australians (and accepted by over six million Australians whose opinion has now apparently been dismissed) and on that basis both major parties have now rejected the approach.

Both parties now exist in an Indigenous policy vacuum, without a way forward and wallowing in the footnotes.

The concept of Indigenous people having a voice or a say in matters that affect them has been rejected, and that ill-informed rejection is now being used by both major parties as an excuse to do nothing – no change – to continue what has always been done. And we continue to attempt to define ‘activity’ as ‘progress’.

The truth that Australians should be focussed on is that despite decades of substantial monies being directed to ‘solve’ the ‘problems’ of Indigenous peoples, little is changing. The lack of results from the not insubstantial investment is disappointing to say the least. The circumstances are an indictment on everybody involved and cannot in any way be condoned or defended.

A complete and utter rethink is required.

A suggested way forward

The Justice Reinvestment Initiative represents a paradigm shift, a change in thinking and approach. Justice Reinvestment is a mature, rigorous and structured approach to resolving matters for the long term.

The tenets of Justice Reinvestment are:

• Place Based (each location has its own particular issues and challenges and requires a place-based approach)
• Community Led (the people who live in that ‘place’ must be the drivers and leaders of the solutions, including a specific youth focus)
• Data Informed (must be evidence and data based, in identifying the issues, measuring them and evaluating progress)
• Focussed on Systems change (one of the outcomes must be learnings which result in a change to the systems and policies which have resulted in the environment that currently persists).

To effectively put this approach into place the process is multi-faceted:

• to focus on the causes of the current circumstances and not just the symptoms (a focus on symptoms only is a band aid approach, never ending and breeds dependence – and is expensive, the task is to identify the optimal mix of cause and symptom policy and activity);
• requires commitment over the mid to long term to a consistent and agreed financial and policy setting (the problems which currently confront us all cannot be resolved by the quick policy sugar hit that most political solutions are based on);
• must be developed in a mature and evidence-based approach (Agreed theory of Change, Program Logic and Measurement, Evaluation and Learning Framework, we must be able to clearly identify the issues and benchmark them, measure the progress and evaluate the outcome and impact).

Drivers of incarceration

The other necessary component of the Justice Reinvestment approach is to be fully cognisant of the drivers or the factors which have caused and contributed to the current circumstances. In the Justice Reinvestment context, they are many and represent how we are, as a society, are failing ourselves. The drivers include:

Poverty and Disadvantage	Trauma	Justice System
Housing	Intergenerational	Previous Contact with the Justice system
Disability	Family Violence	Contact with the Juvenile Justice System
Education	Child Protection	Contact with Police
Employment		Courts
Health		Recidivism
Substance Abuse		Access to legal aid
Social Exclusion		Legal Policy settings
Racism

The list is not exhaustive but indicative of the many factors which contribute to contact with the justice system, that push individuals into the justice system pipeline, and all have to be addressed or at least considered.

A cursory assessment will underpin the need for a rigorous and structured approach to diverting people away from the justice system.

What is being developed is a rigorous, fact based and structured set of policy and practical measures and activities for governments to consider and hopefully take on board.

This can only be achieved with a common purpose and goal and the development of trust and respect between governments and people.

If not, we will continue with the current approaches whereby a generation of institutionalised people are cycled and churned through the justice system, there will be a significant number of people who sit in the margins, outside society’s acceptable behaviours because they have been failed by us all collectively.

The result is a society that is not as safe, not as fair, and not as equal as it could be. People who live on the margins of society grow as we ponder.

The impact on Indigenous people is significantly disproportionate and I’ll leave you with some facts from the NSW justice environment as it impacts Indigenous communities across NSW:

Aboriginal People contact with the Justice System	Adult (3%)	Youth (8% )
Police Court Action (% of all persons brought to court by Police)	22%	57%
Court Bail Decisions (% of all persons refused bail at first appearance)	34%	70%
Found Guilty in Court (% of all persons found guilty)	31%	53%
Sentenced to Custody (% of all persons sentenced to custody)	53%	80%
Custody Population (% of all persons in custody)	32%	57%

These statistics are a snapshot of the task before us all, Indigenous people are not an innately criminal people, the system, the policies, the practices and the attitudes need urgent attention and assessment across all jurisdictions, as do the drivers of incarceration (above) which push Indigenous people into the pipeline of the justice system.

These are facts we cannot ignore, a properly resourced system change focus approach is needed, Justice Reinvestment must be embraced, resourced and supported, if we want that change.

It requires sustained efforts and committed leaders to change direction and see the positive outcomes that all of society would benefit from.

I am sure that we all want a safer, more equal and respectful society, where everyone can have equitable access to the opportunities it offers, and it is possible, but leadership is required.

Originally published by ANTAR https://antar.org.au/blog/an-indigenous-policy-vacuum-crisis-or-normalised-dysfunction/