Mr BALCH - 1998-04-28
My question relates to claims of anomalies in court sentences for Aboriginal Territorians and non-Aboriginal Territorians. I understand a report is being prepared on the issue. Is the Attorney-General in a position to tell this House what the status of such a report is?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is timely that I should be asked that question by the member for Jingili, given the clumsy stunt of the Leader of the Opposition this morning who would have Territorians believe that we are not forthcoming with information that Territorians would have an interest in, particularly if that information is perhaps critical of the government or at odds with government policy. Since becoming Chief Minister, I have stated consistently that I believe in open, transparent government. The question that is being asked this morning is a good example of it.
Members opposite can be cynical. The Leader of the Opposition can have her stunts about freedom of information legislation. What she does not tell Territorians is that most of the information that she seeks is contained in annual reports that are tabled in this parliament. It is available also in reports by the Auditor-General and the Ombudsman. Members opposite shake their heads, but how many of them are ever knocked back in respect of briefings or information that they seek? Predictably, 1 or 2 of them would put their hands up, but they are in the minority. Quite clearly, we have a relatively satisfied customer sitting on the other side when they do bother to seek briefings.
The matter of sentencing rates that apply to Aboriginal people compared to others who are not of Aboriginal background in the Northern Territory was raised with me as Attorney-General. The concern raised was whether Aboriginal people were more likely to be incarcerated than the rest of the population. We put research in train. We stayed very much in touch with it. It was funded through the Office of Aboriginal Development, the Attorney-General's Department, the Office of Courts Administration and Correctional Services. All contributed members to what was then called the sentencing statistics steering committee. The research itself was undertaken by a university academic who had regard to a series of issues and the analysis of data.
The report is very much in a draft form, but this is an issue that Territorians should be aware of. It is consistent with my approach to open and transparent government that I advise some of those preliminary findings today. They are essentially that Aboriginal people comprise some 80.7% of finalised court appearances leading to a sentence of imprisonment. That was in 1996. That was 701 of a total of 869 appearances. Secondly, twice the proportion of Aboriginal first offenders are imprisoned compared with other Territorians - that is, 3.1% compared with 1.7%. At all levels of prior record, a great proportion of Aboriginal people are sentenced to imprisonment and are significantly more likely to be processed by arrest rather than
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receive a summons. This holds true regardless of prior record.
Some facts can be deduced from the draft report that I am sure will be of interest to all members of this Assembly, particularly the members for Arnhem and Arafura who no doubt will view with concern, as would the members for Victoria River and Goyder, some of the facts that have been elicited to date. Quite clearly, we have a greater proportion of Aboriginal people being sentenced compared with other Territorians. One might arguably say that this is an unacceptable level of imprisonment.
I await the final outcome of the report and I hope we will be able to have a sensible and thorough debate on this matter when the time comes. However, as I said, consistent with open and transparent government, I bring this matter to the attention of the House at the first available opportunity.
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ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is timely that I should be asked that question by the member for Jingili, given the clumsy stunt of the Leader of the Opposition this morning who would have Territorians believe that we are not forthcoming with information that Territorians would have an interest in, particularly if that information is perhaps critical of the government or at odds with government policy. Since becoming Chief Minister, I have stated consistently that I believe in open, transparent government. The question that is being asked this morning is a good example of it.
Members opposite can be cynical. The Leader of the Opposition can have her stunts about freedom of information legislation. What she does not tell Territorians is that most of the information that she seeks is contained in annual reports that are tabled in this parliament. It is available also in reports by the Auditor-General and the Ombudsman. Members opposite shake their heads, but how many of them are ever knocked back in respect of briefings or information that they seek? Predictably, 1 or 2 of them would put their hands up, but they are in the minority. Quite clearly, we have a relatively satisfied customer sitting on the other side when they do bother to seek briefings.
The matter of sentencing rates that apply to Aboriginal people compared to others who are not of Aboriginal background in the Northern Territory was raised with me as Attorney-General. The concern raised was whether Aboriginal people were more likely to be incarcerated than the rest of the population. We put research in train. We stayed very much in touch with it. It was funded through the Office of Aboriginal Development, the Attorney-General's Department, the Office of Courts Administration and Correctional Services. All contributed members to what was then called the sentencing statistics steering committee. The research itself was undertaken by a university academic who had regard to a series of issues and the analysis of data.
The report is very much in a draft form, but this is an issue that Territorians should be aware of. It is consistent with my approach to open and transparent government that I advise some of those preliminary findings today. They are essentially that Aboriginal people comprise some 80.7% of finalised court appearances leading to a sentence of imprisonment. That was in 1996. That was 701 of a total of 869 appearances. Secondly, twice the proportion of Aboriginal first offenders are imprisoned compared with other Territorians - that is, 3.1% compared with 1.7%. At all levels of prior record, a great proportion of Aboriginal people are sentenced to imprisonment and are significantly more likely to be processed by arrest rather than
Page 208
receive a summons. This holds true regardless of prior record.
Some facts can be deduced from the draft report that I am sure will be of interest to all members of this Assembly, particularly the members for Arnhem and Arafura who no doubt will view with concern, as would the members for Victoria River and Goyder, some of the facts that have been elicited to date. Quite clearly, we have a greater proportion of Aboriginal people being sentenced compared with other Territorians. One might arguably say that this is an unacceptable level of imprisonment.
I await the final outcome of the report and I hope we will be able to have a sensible and thorough debate on this matter when the time comes. However, as I said, consistent with open and transparent government, I bring this matter to the attention of the House at the first available opportunity.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016