Ray Jackson
May 9 marked five years since the handing down of the 339 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. There is, however, no cause for celebration, nor great achievements in the implementation of the recommendations.
There is great cause for concern that the Howard government has still not called for a national summit of corrective services ministers to meet with representatives of the Aboriginal Legal Service, Aboriginal Medical Service, Mick Dodson's office and ourselves. This was the constant call of the previous shadow minister, Chris Gallus, but it now appears to have been shelved.
The House of Representatives report in 1994 called "Justice Under Scrutiny" was scathing in its findings of non-implementation of the recommendations at all government levels and recommended to the prime minister that state/territory governments be held accountable for this lack of will.
Since May 31, 1989, there have been 92 Aboriginal deaths in custody. The royal commission looked at 99 deaths over a 9½ year period. What difference the recommendations?
We have continually raised our voices at the total lack of concern about the proper implementation of the recommendations. A prime example is recommendation 87, which states that arrest should be "a matter of last resort". The arrest rate in NSW, at least, has doubled since 1989. Recommendation 92 states that "incarceration should be as a matter of last resort". Incarceration rates in NSW have more than doubled since 1989.
An Aboriginal person is 30 times more likely to be arrested, charged and imprisoned than a non-Aboriginal person. An Aboriginal teenager is 18 times more likely to end up in a juvenile detention centre than their non-Aboriginal peers. Aboriginal women are at least 20% of the female prison population despite representing only 1% of the female NSW population.
The sharpest increase in jail deaths has been among Aboriginal inmates. In 1995 there were 16 Aboriginal deaths in prison custody nationally, an increase over 1994. So far this year six Aborigines have died in custody — two in Queensland, two in NSW, one in Western Australia and one on the Tiwi Islands in a police lock-up.
The figures speak for themselves. If the recommendations were being fully implemented, these statistics would not exist. Law and justice made up half of the royal commission recommendations. If the most fundamental recommendations are not being implemented, we cannot feel too optimistic about the implementation of the other recommendations. Social justice recommendations are not being considered.
The recent allegations involving Western Australia's state housing department, Homeswest, are an indication of this. Aboriginal disadvantage in the area of housing and infrastructure was clearly documented in the royal commission report. The report stated that local government plays a critical role in meeting the needs of Aboriginal people.
Homeswest eviction processes, which have increased almost 100% each year, are to the detriment of Aboriginal welfare as Aborigines are the majority of people subject to these orders. The situation in the other states, whilst not as extreme as Western Australia, is similar.
The problem of deaths in custody will not simply disappear. The Federal government must be pro-active in this and all issues of Aboriginal disadvantage. As the new millennium approaches, where will Australia stand in the international arena on its treatment of its indigenous peoples? After its recent visit, Amnesty International was appalled at the lack of change in the custodial system Australia-wide since its last visit.
[Ray Jackson is with the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee.]