12th May 2021, 4:19 PM – Senate Motions - Indigenous Australians - Criminal justice

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe (Greens), which means it passed. Motions like these don’t make any legal changes on their own, but can be politically influential because they represent the will of the Senate.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) across the country governments are implementing extremely punitive youth justice legislation that will further criminalise and target young people, particularly First Nations young people,

(ii) on an average night in the June quarter of 2020, about half of all imprisoned children were First Nations, despite making up approximately 5% of the overall youth population,

(iii) often this legislation has been enacted without proper consultation and engagement with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, medical professionals and human rights and youth justice organisations,

(iv) particularly in the Northern Territory, the recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children in the Northern Territory have not been fully implemented, and

(v) it is time to take a new evidence-based approach to youth justice, by redirecting money away from prisons into stronger, caring, self-determined communities; and

(b) calls on the Commonwealth to work with governments across the country to:

(i) abandon regressive approaches to criminal justice and instead implement justice reinvestment interventions to youth offending, including culturally safe diversion, restorative justice programs, family and community support and culturally safe health, education, and youth support services, and

(ii) consult widely, particularly First Nations people, to implement culturally responsive systems that keep communities safe and families together.