Promoting people’s rights and civil liberties. It is non-party political and independent of other organisations.
Divert some of $600m to prevention

Divert some of $600m to prevention

The Editor, The Age: While we are becoming more attentive to the life-threatening issues of global warming, refugees fleeing from war-devastated countries and absolute poverty affecting tens of millions of people, we must not ignore the plight of indigenous Australians who are continually being imprisoned at a rate that no civilised society should contemplate.

In the NT, 83% of prison inmates are indigenous. In WA, it is 41% and in NSW 20%. (Although only 2% of the total population nation-wide are indigenous). In Victoria, indigenous people are 10 times more likely to go to jail that those who are non-indigenous.

While alcohol and drug abuse are usually the major cause for their crimes, underlying reasons are the lack of stable housing, employment and education ,which must be addressed if we are to achieve a dramatic reduction in the incarceration and recidivism rate of such disadvantaged members of our society. In this regard, if a proportion of the $600 million annual jail funds were diverted to preventative programs in the community, all sections of society could benefit.

– Keith McEwan, CLA member, Bendigo Victoria

Leave a Reply

Translate »