The CLP and Labor have co-signed the Aboriginal Justice Act
CLP have become a ‘party’ to the Aboriginal Justice Agreement, meaning both Labor and CLP will be responsible for upholding and funding the 48 actions to reduce incarceration.
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UPDATE 6PM 31 MAR: A historic signing of the Aboriginal Justice Agreement has ensured its longevity regardless of who takes government in the next seven years.
The Attorney-General Selena Ubio and CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro co-signed the document alongside NTCOSS chief executive Deborah DiNatale and NAAJA’s principal lawyer David Woodroffe during a ceremony at Parliament House on Thursday.
The consultation for the agreement was commended by both parties at the signing. During the three years of development Aboriginal Justice Unit director Leanne Liddle and a team of representatives completed 160 meetings across 120 communities.
“We used cultural brokers and translators and we went to those 120 communities. If people wanted us back, we went back twice,” she said.
“People don’t want to keep living with crime. People don’t want to live in the poverty and disadvantage that they currently live in and people see this (document) as a change agent that has no room for politics. I’m very pleased both parties have signed (it).”
Launched in August 2021 the AJA is the first of its kind in the Northern Territory, and follows a similar format to the Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement launched in 2020.
Ms Ubio said the agreement was a large body of work that incorporates core principles for justice reform, including reduced incarceration and recidivism rates, empowering local Aboriginal leadership and improving the justice responses and services to Aboriginal Territorians.
A number of the pilot programs have already shown results in reducing incarceration. In Alice Springs the alternative custody arrangements have helped transform the lives of all 10 women who completed the program; of the 10 only one has reoffended in a 12 month period.
A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General’s office said many of the women in the program had numerous interactions with the criminal justice system prior to the program.
“Many of these women were re-entering the criminal justice system after only 6-8 weeks outside it,” she said. “On exiting the program, the women are provided with support to gain employment, housing or access to disability services and payments (and) at least two women have been reunited with their children who resided with them during their stay.” The department said there is now a wait list of women wanting to enter the program.
Furthermore the AJA commits to centring Aboriginal leadership in community. Law and Justice Groups are been established across the Territory with the support of the Aboriginal Justice Unit. The groups help community foster better relationships with police and courts.
Currently a group exits in Kintore, however leaders from Ikuntji, Maningrida, Katherine and Amoonguna have also expressed interest in developing their own.
Following Thursday’s bipartisanship both Labor and CLP will be beholden to reducing the way Northern Territory law and justice systems disproportionately impact Aboriginal Territorians.
Ms Finocchiaro said she had pushed hard to ensure the CLP were a party to the document, because she believed in the work that had been done to create the AJA and its potential to “reduce crime” in the NT.
“This is an agreement that is supposed to or intended to run for seven years, now that pushes past our election cycle,” she said.
“It’s very important for people who are working on this agreement, it’s important for people who might want to fund projects in the agreement and for the community to have confidence, and in my view having the opposition sign as a party to this document shows that there is that level of confidence and support.”
Ms Finocchiaro was staunch in her belief that every Territorian should be committed to reducing crime.
“We don’t shy away from strong laws; the AJA represents hundreds of consultations on a very important issue,” she said.
“And while strong laws and strong sentencing are important issues for the CLP, so are alternatives to sentencing…we believe there are not enough options for our judges at the moment, when you look in that youth space, it is bail or jail.”
Ms Finocchiaro agreed if elected in two years’ time, the CLP would adequately fund programs to ensure the AJA could achieve its goals.
A key commitment from the Aboriginal Justice Agreement is to review four pieces of legislation by June 2022; the Bail Act, Sentencing Act, Juries Act and Parole Act.
The NT News understands the Attorney-General’s office has engaged an external, independent consultant to complete that work.
UPDATED 10AM 31 MAR: THE CLP Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro and several signatories will sit down to jointly sign the Aboriginal Justice Agreement.
The NT News understands a small signing ceremony will be held just after midday on Thursday at Parliament House.
The document will now include signatures from the CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro and opposition Attorney-General Steve Edgington alongside Chief Minister Michael Gunner, Attorney-General Selena Uibo, Northern Territory Council of Social Services (NTCOSS) chief executive Deborah Di Natale and North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) principal lawyer David Woodroffe.
According to government spokesman the document was reformatted late on Wednesday afternoon and Ms Uibo’s chief of staff contacted Ms Finocchiaro’s office to organise the signing.
The social and legal services’ chief executives were invited to join the ceremony on Wednesday evening.
As a result of the bipartisanship signing the document will now hold all government’s to account over the next seven years.
More to come.
EARLIER WEDS 30 MARCH: THE Gunner government has agreed to the CLP’s demands for bipartisanship in signing the Aboriginal Justice Agreement (AJA).
CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro said she would sign the AJA with no amendments to its content providing the government puts her name as a party to the document.
A spokesman for the Chief Minister’s office said Ms Finocchiaro’s name would be included as a party to the document and placed next to Mr Gunner’s.
It would include amending the AJA to move Attorney-General Selena Uibo’s name beneath the two leaders.
The Chief Minister’s office said the work had been done with hundreds of experts, which they believed could be “transformative” for many lives in the Northern Territory.
“We want it to be bipartisan. She can have whatever she needs to sign it,” he said.
The document provides a road map to justice reform across the NT including 48 actions that aim to reduce incarceration rates and engage Aboriginal leadership to improve justice responses and services.
The NT News understands the government will add the opposition leader’s name to page 26 and set a date for the AJA to be signed.
Ms Finocchiaro said in a “symbol” of bipartisanship it was her preference to sign it side-by-side the Chief Minister but regardless of optics the document would be signed.
NTCOSS chief executive Deborah Di Natale, who is also a party to the document, said the AJA, and the work attached to it, was a core priority.
“We strongly believe for any transformational change in the Aboriginal justice space to occur there must be true bipartisan support for this document,” she said.
“NTCOSS will happily host a ceremony at any time with both sides of government at a moment’s notice.”
During an adjournment of Parliamentary sittings last week, Ms Finocchiaro said the final version of the AJA had removed the CLP as a party who were “involved in developing” the document.
“There is a signatures page, it includes ‘parties to the Northern Territory Aboriginal Justice Agreement’,” she said.
“Make no mistake, when we talk about bipartisanship on an issue like this document, which is meant to chart the course for the next seven years and beyond, it is exactly next to the Chief Minister’s name on this page that my name, as Opposition Leader, should be to show true bipartisanship to a document.”
Ms Finocchiaro said the CLP had always supported the AJA
“This has been our longstanding commitment and I look forward to Michael Gunner contacting my office so we can arrange a date to get this done.”
The news is welcomed relief to social and legal services in the NT who are waiting for the document to be signed in order to action the 48 recommendations listed.
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