Darwin: Youth justice on agenda as Closing the Gap body meets

Tougher youth crime laws and Aboriginal deaths in custody will be in focus when peak Indigenous bodies meet government ministers to assess Closing the Gap progress.

Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy will attend Friday’s Joint Council meeting in Darwin with her state and territory counterparts and Coalition of Peaks members.

The Coalition represents more than 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community peak bodies comprising about 800 organisations and is a formal partner with Australian Governments on Closing the Gap.

“This week’s meeting comes at a critical time, with several high-stakes national conversations on incarceration and the rights of children causing serious concern for our people,” the Coalition said in a statement.

It said the need for greater investment in community-led justice solutions and a stronger, more accountable response from governments on justice reform had never been clearer.

The Coalition said it was calling for urgent youth justice reform across all levels of government including crime prevention, early intervention and a move away from systems that criminalise Indigenous children.

Broader justice reform was also needed including addressing systemic drivers of incarceration and the “continued tragedy of deaths in custody”.

The Coalition said the number of Indigenous children in out-of-home care had to be reduced with practical action to address their ongoing over-representation in the child protection system.

Scott Wilson, the acting lead convener of the Coalition, said Friday’s meeting was an important opportunity to have frank discussions about the state of the partnership and the urgent need for governments to act.

“We know that when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations are properly resourced to lead, the outcomes are better,” he said.

The Coalition meeting follows a young Aboriginal man’s death in custody that sparked protests across Australia and calls for an independent inquiry rather than an investigation by Northern Territory Police into their own.

Kumanjayi White, who had a mental disability and was in care, died on May 27 after being forcibly restrained by two plainclothes officers inside a supermarket in Alice Springs.

Police allege the 24-year-old was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard.

All states and territories have introduced crime crackdowns after spates of violence and lawlessness, largely involving young people.

In Queensland children as young as 10 will face adult jail time for a range of new offences after the state government in May passed its second tranche of controversial youth crime laws.

The NT government recently passed tougher bail laws, which are expected to lead to a surge in the territory’s prison population, including more Indigenous youth inmates.

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