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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-13 Daily Xml
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Aboriginal Youth Justice Supervision

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:11): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Treasurer, representing the Attorney-General, about the over-representation of Indigenous young people under youth justice supervision.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) young people are over-represented in youth justice supervision. On an average day in 2015-16, Indigenous young people were 17 times more likely than non-Indigenous young people to be under supervision. Those young people represented 48 per cent of all young people under supervision, despite representing less than 6 per cent of all young people in Australia. This is even higher for those in detention, where more than half of young people were Indigenous (59 per cent) making them 25 times more likely to be in detention than non-Indigenous young people.

While the overall proportion of Indigenous young people under supervision has decreased between 2011-12 and 2015-16, it has decreased at a slower rate than for non-Indigenous young people. This means that they are still over-represented, and that number has increased despite the total number decreasing. My questions to the Treasurer are:

1. How many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander juvenile justice officers are currently employed in the juvenile justice system?

2. Where are they based?

3. Are any positions currently vacant and, if so, how long have they been vacant for?

4. What programs does the state government fund to address the over-representation of Indigenous young people under youth justice supervision?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:13): I will take the honourable member's question on notice and bring back a reply.

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