Ministerial Working Group on Age of Criminal Responsibility needs to get a 'hurry on'
Linda Burney on ABC News Radio Breakfast with Thomas Oriti - Friday, 22 January 2021
THOMAS ORITI, HOST: Linda Burney is a federal Labor MP and the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, and she joins us live now. Linda Burney good morning.
LINDA BURNEY: Good morning Thomas, how are you?
ORITI: Good thank you. Thank you for your time. Firstly, are you surprised the situation is, I guess, not only this bad, but it appears to be getting worse?
BURNEY: Unfortunately I'm not surprised. And the numbers, as you say, are getting worse. And I think it's really important for listeners this morning not to think of these as just statistics. But we're talking about real people. What I find really alarming Thomas, is that jail has become almost normalised as part of the life cycle of an Aboriginal person. Particularly young Aboriginal men. It's just heartbreaking to hear 'well, he's in juvie'. And that seem to be almost normalised and it's just completely unacceptable these numbers.
ORITI: Yeah, indeed. Forgive me but we do have a bit of a bad phone line there Linda Burney. Can I ask, I mean, why do you think this is happening, I mean why are we seeing the numbers go up?
BURNEY: Well at the end of the day - is that phone line better?
ORITI: Yeah it is actually sounding a bit better now. Whatever you've done is working. So what do you think is behind the trend?
BURNEY: There's an important point to be made Thomas, and that is that states and territories have responsibility for the judicial system, for policing and for custodial systems. So there's an enormous amount that states and territories need to think about. A lot of this is pushed by the circumstances that a lot of Aboriginal people find themselves in in terms of poverty and dislocation, loss of culture, loss of language. Those things cannot be dismissed in this discussion. And I note that people often do. But the other thing of course is that you need to be thinking about, or states and territories need to be thinking about, their policing practices, their sentencing practices, their bail practices. A whole range of things. Bail laws, a whole range of things that states and territories need to be considering. And alternative pathways for Aboriginal people that offend. Be it the Koori Court or different ways in which punishment is metered out.
ORITI: OK, so that's the state and territories. And you have mentioned there policing, bail laws, and so on and so forth. But what about at a federal level? What could be done to lower the rate of Indigenous incarceration.
BURNEY: Well what I'd like to see at the federal level is for the Ministerial Working Group that's looking at the age of criminal responsibility to get a bit of a hurry on. And certainly the federal Attorney General has a big role to play in that. I think the other thing is that at a federal level, leadership can be displayed. And there is the partnership, of course, with the Coalition of Peak Aboriginal Organisations. And the new targets, the new justice targets in the Closing the Gap. Personally I don't think they're ambitious enough, but we've endorsed them as a good start. And those are that in adults, by 2013 (sic. 2031) there'd be a 15 per cent reduction. And in children by 2031 there'd be a 30 per cent reduction. And if you've got those national targets, that's what should be driving states and territories as well.
ORITI: I guess just for a moment, stepping away from the political action. Do you have any optimism that the Black Lives Matter movement around the world might see things turn around as well?
BURNEY: I think that the Black Lives Matter movement has been extremely powerful and extremely good at putting a mirror in front of nations. So that we can see ourselves from that perspective. Of course, the focus in Australia has been the shocking fact that there has been 434 deaths in custody since the Royal Commission of the late eighties, or the nineties I should say. Now that's an indictment. And we see right now that this is continuing with recent deaths in custody. These things should not be happening, particularly when we think about how long ago that Royal Commission was.
ORITI: Can I ask you just while I have got you there Linda Burney, about another issue. Cricket Australia, now it's standing it's ground in not referring to the 26th of January as Australia Day. As part of its Big Bash League promotions. And that's after consultation with its Indigenous Advisory Committee. Now the move has been criticised by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He's described the decision as 'pretty ordinary'. One of the quotes is; 'Cricket fans would like to see Cricket Australia focus a lot more on cricket and a lot less on politics'. What's your view?
BURNEY: I had a massive chuckle, I have to say, when I heard the Prime Minister say that. This is not about Cricket Australia playing identity politics. Cricket Australia has a stretch Reconciliation Action Plan. Thomas, that's the pinnacle of Reconciliation Action Plans. And they're doing a whole range of things in the Indigenous space. Including getting more Indigenous people playing cricket. The fact is they have taken a stand. I say good on them and congratulations. A number of national sporting codes have done so and it is really gratifying to see because at the end of the day Australians do like their sport and do look to sporting codes for that sort of leadership. I think Cricket Australia should be congratulated and I think the Prime Minister needs to realise that I think they're very focused on playing cricket, as well as taking up their responsibilities in the First Nations space.
ORITI: OK Linda Burney thank you very much for your time this morning.
BURNEY: Thanks Thomas.
ENDS
LINDA BURNEY
TRANSCRIPT - FRIDAY, 22 JANUARY 2021