17 March 2024
Dear Premier Minns,
Don't turn your back on Closing the Gap.
Throwing more children in jail will make crime worse in regional communities, not better.
Throwing more children in jail will lead to horrific outcomes for communities, families and those children, compounding abuse and trauma.
Throwing more children in jail will cause unspeakable damage to Closing The Gap and efforts to create a better future for Aboriginal children in NSW.
Your new policy to increase youth incarceration:
- is a betrayal of your Closing the Gap commitments
- ignores decades of evidence on how to reduce youth crime
- prioritises punishment over investment in the proven prevention strategies that you promised to implement
- will cause crime to get worse
- will delay measures that could reduce crime
This is a devastating betrayal of Aboriginal children and other vulnerable groups across NSW.
This is a devastating betrayal of regional communities who want prevention measures not stunts.
We the undersigned organisations ask you to urgently replace your punishment measures with prevention measures:
- Resources allocated for local communities to support after-school, evening and weekend activities that engage at-risk young people.
- Intensive and targeted programs and responses for at-risk children with appropriate referral services.
- Formal community partnerships between police and Aboriginal controlled services.
Signed by:
- Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited
- NSW Aboriginal Land Council
- First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN)
- BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation
- AbSec - NSW Child, Family and Community Peak Aboriginal Corporation
- Link-Up NSW
- Aboriginal Culture, Heritage & Arts Association Inc (ACHAA)
- NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG)
- Justice Reform Initiative
- Redfern Legal Centre
- Australian Lawyers for Human Rights
- Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
- Community Legal Centres NSW
- Centre for Criminology Law and Justice UNSW
- NSW Council for Civil Liberties
- Weave Youth & Community Services
- Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation
- The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre
- KWOOP (Keeping Women Out Of Prison)
- Inner City Legal Centre
- Sisters Inside Inc
- Public Interest Advocacy Centre
- National Justice Project
- Nelly’s Healing Centre Aboriginal Corporation
- Amnesty International Australia
- Deadly Connections
- Dharriwaa Elders Group
- University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Law (Criminal Justice Cluster)
- Ngalaya Indigenous Corporation: First Nations Lawyers and Law Students NSW
- Central Coast Community Legal Centre
- SNAICC
- Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies
- Matana Foundation for Young People
- Accountable Futures Collective
- Western Sydney University Justice Clinic
- Human Rights Law Centre
- The Refugee Advice and Casework Service
- Australian Lawyers Alliance
- Kingsford Legal Centre (UNSW)
- knowmore
- ANTAR
- Central Tablelands and Blue Mountains Community Legal Centre
- Community Restorative Centre
- Women's Legal Centre NSW
- Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre
- North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA)
- Sydney Institute of Criminology
- Human Rights Act for NSW Alliance
- Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia Limited
- The Rainbow Lodge Program
- The Far West Community Legal Centre
- BackTrack Youthworks
- Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council of NSW (AH&MRC)
- Humanity Matters
- Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service
- Reconciliation NSW
- Change the Record
- ARACY - Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth
- Save the Children and 54 reasons
- Australian Centre for Disability Law
- Allawaw Aboriginal Corporation
See also: