Aboriginal Affairs & Heritage

Justice Reinvestment to Tackle Shameful Indigenous Imprisonment Rates

8^th August 2013

Greens WA Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, and spokesperson on Aboriginal issues, Robin Chapple MLC, concurs with the Law Council of Australia’s recent strong concern regarding the shameful high imprisonment rates among indigenous Australians.

“It is shocking that 2.5% of Australia’s population account for 26% of the jail population, with WA having the highest rates in Australia.  Regional areas, like Pilbara, have extremely high rates, for instance in June there were 134 indigenous prisoners at Roebourne Regional Prison, making up 92% of the total prison population.

“The ‘tough on crime’ approach of the major parties is not working. It is not reducing crime rates, it is not making our communities safer, and it is leading to higher rates of imprisonment, at a huge cost to the taxpayer.

“We can be smarter with the way we spend this money, by investing in stronger communities.  That is why I wholeheartedly support the introduction of a justice reinvestment system in Western Australia.

“I have seen ample evidence of the success of this approach in my long involvement with aboriginal communities around WA.  The Yiriman Project, in Fitzroy Crossing, has achieved outstanding success in diverting at-risk youngsters away from the justice system.   And the employment of Martu people as desert rangers also demonstrates the effectiveness of alternative strategies.

“The turnabout from the government on justice reinvestment in May 2013, through its new Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis, gives me hope that we might at long last make some progress towards a better way - where communities might see far fewer of their future citizens enmeshed in our current one-size-fits-all system,” concluded Mr Chapple.

Justice Reinvestment Plan - http://penny-wright.greensmps.org.au/campaigns/justice-reinvestment

Greens WA spokesperson on Energy policy, Robin Chapple MLC, today called on the state government to spill the beans on future power prices for WA families.

“I fear that power prices could double, almost overnight, as current domestic gas contracts expire over the next few years, to be replaced by new arrangements with North-West resource giants like the Gorgon project.

“We need to realize that something like 60% of the electricity used on the grid which supplies Perth, and most of the South-West, is generated using gas as a fuel – we’re not just talking about gas used directly for domestic cooking and heating.

“At Parliamentary Estimates hearings last year, I forced Synergy to confess that they had no surety of gas supply beyond 2015 – this is the scary part, because they’ve since negotiated new contracts with Gorgon, in a secret deal which will wind up costing Perth consumers dearly.

“In Parliament last week, in response to a direct question from me, the Minister refused to disclose details of the deal – instead falling back on that worn-out bureaucratic cliché of “commercially confidential”!

“Industry observers are well aware of what a lousy deal the government has done on taxpayer’s behalf – I fear we are looking down the barrel of well over a hundred if not two hundred precent increase in the wholesale supply price.  ‘They got well-and-truly screwed’ was one insider’s succinct comment to me!

“The sorry tale of energy policy in WA over my time as a member of Parliament just gets worse, regardless of which team is currently governing.  This state is heading towards a future where its major electricity grid becomes a stranded asset – beholden to ever-increasing fuel costs and maintenance issues.

“The economic case against renewable energy has had its day – the relative cost curves are now crossing over to make renewables the only sensible option for our future.  The Minister for Energy should stand up to the Premier and make a serious effort to recast this state’s future energy landscape.

“So far, only the Greens have delivered a costed and viable renewable vision through our Energy 2029 plan”, concluded Mr Chapple.

Energy 2029 plan: http://www.greenswa.net.au/energy2029

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

Greens WA spokesperson on Aboriginal issues, Robin Chapple MLC, today blasted the Barnett-Grylls government over its continuing disregard for Aboriginal heritage.

“Under probing from me in Parliament last week, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs admitted that there are currently a massive 6,234 lodged sites awaiting assessment by the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee (ACMC).

“The Minister was unwilling to give a figure for the average time taken to complete an assessment, so I will make an estimate using available data.

“According to the Department’s latest annual report, the ACMC has been working for 40 years, and there are approximately 15,000 registered sites with another 15,000+ heritage “places” – so a charitable view would be 30,000 assessments over 40 years – equals about 800 assessments per year.

“At that rate, the admitted backlog of over 6,000 sites will take around 8 years to clear!

“A less charitable view would look at the workload in the context of an ACMC of 7 people – meeting 11 times a year, and also responsible for dealing with section 16 and 18 applications, their annual report showing that the ACMC considered 152 such applications during the year.

“If we allow that they can also consider site assessments at the same rate – the backlog now looks more like 40 years!

“Either way, this is a scandalous situation, where the backlog has been allowed to grow to such huge proportions – the Minister needs to come clean and say what he is going to do about it.

“I talk to mining companies all the time, and they are equally frustrated by the lack of certainty which results from not knowing what sites are in areas where they are looking to develop projects”, concluded Mr Chapple.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255