Keenan Mundine outside The Block, an Aboriginal community social housing area where he grew up. Today, he is using his own lived experience of navigating the criminal justice system that helped change the trajectory of his life to devise creative and innovative solutions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people so they can break free from the cycle of violence, police and prisons. Credit: Neena Bhandari /IPS

By Neena Bhandari
SYDNEY, Australia, Feb 15 2021 (IPS)

Keenan Mundine grew up in the Aboriginal community social housing called The Block, infamous for poor living conditions, alcohol and drug use, and violence, in Sydney’s Redfern suburb. At the age of about seven, soon after losing his parents to drugs and suicide, he was separated from his siblings and placed in kinship care.

“I felt robbed of my childhood. I didn’t feel safe and it made me struggle with my living conditions and mental health. I couldn’t concentrate at school and got into lot of trouble. I spent sleepless nights contemplating what my situation would be if my parents were still alive. At the age of 14, I ended up on the streets and tried to work my way around it,” Mundine tells IPS.

Today, he is using his own lived experience of navigating the criminal justice system that helped change the trajectory of his life to devise creative and innovative solutions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people so they can break free from the cycle of violence, police and prisons.

Indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are globally the highest incarcerated people, making up 28 percent of the prison population even though they comprise only 3.3 percent of the total Australian population. Many are introduced to the criminal justice system at a young age, often incarcerated for trivial offences, and they remain in the system for life.

“Most children in prison come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and have already experienced violence, abuse, homelessness, and drug or alcohol abuse. A significant number of young Indigenous people in detention centres and prisons suffer from previously undiagnosed Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder. Criminalising their behaviour creates a vicious cycle of disadvantage,” Australian Medical Association President, Dr Omar Khorshid, tells IPS via email.

The Australian Government’s 2020 Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (ODI) Report notes that over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system is the result of a higher prevalence of the common risk factors for offending, which stem “in part from their experience of dispossession, forced removal and intergenerational trauma and racism – structural and systemic factors including laws, policies and practices that can unintentionally operate to their detriment”.

Between 2000 and 2019, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult people’s imprisonment rate has increased 72 percent and in 2018-19, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth detention rate was 22 times the rate for non-Indigenous youth, according to the ODI report.

Challenging Australia’s Indigenous incarceration record during its third Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Jan. 20, several UN member states urged Australia to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 years to 14 years.

“In 2019, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child had recommended 14 years as the minimum age of criminal responsibility. The Australian Government must now do what is right and introduce legislation to raise the age, so children aged 10 to 13 years are not sent to prison as recommended by the national RaiseTheAge Campaign Alliance,” Australian Lawyers for Human Rights president, Kerry Weste, tells IPS via email. 

“Despite the fact that indigenous children represent only six percent of young people in Australia, they comprise 57 percent of those in youth detention, and an alarming 78 percent of 10- to 13-year-old children detained,” says Weste.  

The treatment these children have been subjected to could amount to a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Australia has ratified.

Carly Stanley, who grew up in a large Aboriginal community in inner-west Sydney suburbs, recalls accompanying her grandmother to visit her uncle in prison and cousins in police cells. She accepted that this was normal because everyone in the community had someone behind bars. Although Stanley had a supportive family, she experienced trauma during her childhood. She dropped out of school and engaged in criminal activity and drug use, but she was fortunate not to ever have been in trouble for it. 

“It is only when I got older and did a course in Aboriginal studies, learning the history of my people, did I realise that this situation was specific to our community,” Stanley, who worked for many years for government and non-governmental organisations, tells IPS. She realised that the processes and the structures in place didn’t take into consideration Aboriginal peoples’ cultural, social, economic, emotional, health and wellbeing into account. 

“I tried to make changes as a senior officer inside the departments I worked for, but I realised very quickly that that wasn’t going to happen. It ignited my passion to help my people and get better outcomes for them through community-led solutions,” says Stanley, who along with Mundine established Deadly Connections, a grassroots Indigenous organisation.  

Through Deadly Connections, Mundine says, “We have been able to implement direct interventions from a culturally responsive perspective to get our people social justice and participate in the economy. The government and institutions have many employment accreditation courses, but it is a big challenge to find a job when you have a criminal record.” 

Research indicates that time in a juvenile justice centre is the most significant factor in increasing the odds of reoffending. On Jun. 30, 2019, 78 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult prisoners had a known prior imprisonment, compared with 50 percent of non-Indigenous prisoners. Over the period 2000-01 to 2018-19, 55 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in sentenced supervision had more than one supervised sentence, compared to 34 percent for non-Indigenous young people, according to the 2020 ODI report.

“Simple reforms such as decriminalising public drunkenness, ending punitive bail laws and taking other steps to reduce the number of people held on remand can significantly impact Indigenous over-incarceration rates in Australia,” Weste tells IPS. 

While the large majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in prison are male, the rate of female imprisonment is increasing more rapidly. Structural factors related to sentencing laws appear to be contributing to this increase, with 40 percent of all female prisoners being unsentenced (on remand) at Jun. 30, 2019, up from 37 percent a year earlier.

“Australia is in the midst of a mass imprisonment crisis, with the number of women in our prisons skyrocketing by 64 percent in the last 10 years. Too often, discriminatory laws and excessive police powers form a toxic combination that results in more and more women – and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in particular – being separated from their families and funnelled into the prison system,” Monique Hurley, Senior Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre, tells IPS via email.

“Governments across Australia must act now to remove laws that disproportionately and unfairly criminalise women,” says Hurley.

Since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which had found that ‘too many Aboriginal people are in custody too often’, Australia has lost 455 Indigenous people in custody — 295 in prison, 156 in police custody or custody-related operations and four in juvenile detention, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology’s Deaths in custody in Australia 2018-19 Statistical Report.

“Throwing people behind bars is outdated and ineffective. Governments must invest in strengthening communities and tackling the drivers of crimes – that means affordable housing, adequate social security payments so people can afford basic necessities, community-driven programs to keep young people engaged at school, strengthen culture and drive employment and mental health and wellbeing programmes,” Sophie Trevitt, Executive Officer of Change the Record, a national Aboriginal-led justice coalition of legal, health and family violence prevention experts, tells IPS via email. 

Australia has spent AUD one billion in 2019-20 on detention-based supervision, community-based supervision and group conferencing. The cost of detention-based supervision was AUD 584.5 million, accounting for the majority of this expenditure.

As Cheryl Axleby, co-chair of Change the Record, tells IPS via email, “Only by empowering and strengthening our communities – and directing funding away from a broken and harmful prison system – will we create safer and more equal communities for everyone.”

The new National Agreement on Closing the Gap includes targets for reducing the rates of adult incarceration by at least 15 percent and youth detention by at least 30 percent by 2031.

“The Indigenous Advancement Strategy Safety and Wellbeing Programme includes investing in adult and youth ‘through-care’ services, which provide intensive case management to those in prison or detention, starting pre-release and continuing post-release to address the underlying causes of offending and prevent reoffending,” according to a spokesperson for Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt.

But Stanley says, “The measures in place are only tokenistic. However, a lot more people, especially the younger generation, are realising that a change is needed.”

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Roy Roger Gibson, an indigenous Kuku Yalanji elder, had to wait 20 years for his dream of being part of a native-owned sustainable ecotourism venture to become a reality. Credit: Neena Bhandari/IPS

By Neena Bhandari
MOSSMAN, Queensland, Australia, Jan 26 2015 (IPS)

Roy Roger Gibson, an indigenous Kuku Yalanji elder, would watch thousands of tourists and vehicles trampling his pristine land while working on the sugarcane fields in Far North Queensland. His people were suffering and their culture was being eroded. The native wildlife was disappearing. He dreamt of turning this around.

It took 20 years to bring his vision to fruition, but today the Mossman Gorge Centre is a successful indigenous ecotourism business in the world heritage-listed Daintree National Park in Queensland, Australia.

Indigenous people are three times less likely to own and run their own business than non-indigenous people.
With more people travelling the world and seeking authentic experiences, tourism has acted as a catalyst for preserving indigenous culture, providing employment, education and training opportunities and protecting the environment – especially in remote locations such as the Mossman Gorge, the ancestral home of the Kuku Yalanji people in the southern tip of the Daintree National Park.

Roy and the Mossman Gorge Aboriginal Community worked in collaboration with the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC), to build the Centre, which has a 90-percent indigenous workforce – 61 employees and 21 trainees.

Roberta Stanley, 18, who joined the Centre as a trainee along with her twin sibling, says, “Every morning, when I step out of home in my work uniform, I can’t stop smiling. It has helped me reconnect with our history, legends, languages, music and the arts. I feel a sense of immense pride and have the confidence to pursue my dream of becoming an artist and dancer.”

This was something young people like her couldn’t do before the Centre began providing accredited skills training in tourism, hospitality, retail and administration. Both her parents also work at the Centre. With four members of the Stanley family employed, it has made life easier.

In 2011, an estimated 207,600 indigenous people were in the labour force. About two in five (42 percent) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were employed, compared with about three in five non-indigenous people (61 percent).

With limited employment opportunities, pursuing their dreams is not something every native Australian is free to do.

Pamela Salt, 41, used to be a cleaner and paint in colours representing the rainforest and sea during her spare time. Since she began working at the Mossman Gorge Centre, she feels a sense of ownership with the place.

“Physically, mentally and emotionally, it has given our people the confidence that we can do it. One of my daughters is also employed here,” Pamela told IPS. A self-taught artist with no formal training, today her work is on display in the Centre’s gallery and bought by national and international visitors.

Since July last year, 250,000 tourists, 40 percent of them international, have visited the Centre. As Mossman Gorge Centre’s General Manager Greg Erwin told IPS, “Indigenous tourism is gaining momentum. It will add a cultural depth to the experiences that visitors have in any destination. The Kuku Yalanji people, like other Aboriginal communities, have been nurturing and looking after the environment for thousands of years. It is their supermarket and their pharmacy.”

Eighteen-year-old Roberta Stanley joined the Mossman Gorge Centre as a trainee. Now she, along with four other members of her family, works there full time. Credit: Neena Bhandari/IPS

In the next 10 to 15 years, the business will be totally owned by the aboriginal people of the Gorge – a long way from the ‘Stolen Generation’: the tens of thousands of children who were forcibly removed from their families between 1900 and 1970 under Australian government assimilation policies to “breed out” their Aborigine blood and supposedly give them a better life.

Roy, 58, who also belongs to the ‘Stolen Generation’, doesn’t want his people to ever experience that psychological trauma again.

“This Centre is a role model for our younger generation dreaming of a better life.” He, along with other indigenous guides, takes visitors on “dreamtime walks” highlighting the nuances of the world’s oldest rainforest, relating stories spun around creation, food sources, flora and fauna, the caves and Manjal Dimbi (Mt. Demi), a mountain with spiritual significance for the indigenous people.

“Now we are able to protect our ecosystem and at the same time provide visitors an insight into the lives, culture and beliefs of the Kuku Yalanji people and their connection to the natural environment. Our emphasis is on sustainability,” Roy told IPS.

Stimulating positive change

Sustainable indigenous businesses like the Mossman Gorge Centre are not only helping protect and preserve the ecosystem, but lifting out of poverty some of the most disadvantaged communities that suffer from alcohol abuse, domestic violence, chronic diseases, unemployment and high suicide rates.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are 15 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-indigenous Australians; about half of the young people in juvenile detention are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Meanwhile, indigenous women are hospitalised for family violence-related assaults at 31 times the rate of non-indigenous women, according to the 2014 Social Justice and Native Title Report.

Indigenous people are three times less likely to own and run their own business than non-indigenous people. The remoteness of places where many indigenous people reside plays a large part in this.

Still, Tourism Research Australia’s 2014 figures show 14 percent of international visitors enjoy an indigenous experience and these visitors spent 5.2 billion dollars in Australia, highlighting a huge demand for authentic experiences in out-of-the-way locations.

ILC subsidiary, Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, offers unique experiences in iconic locations around Australia. Besides the Mossman Gorge Centre, it manages the Ayers Rock Resort and Longitude 131° in the Northern Territory, Home Valley Station in The Kimberley in Western Australia.

While the ILC is focused on acquiring land and assisting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders manage that land to provide sustainable benefits, Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) is a commercially focused organisation providing sustainable economic development opportunities for indigenous Australians.

As IBA’s CEO Chris Fry said, “Our Business Development and Assistance Programme (BDAP) assists indigenous entrepreneurs to start and grow their own enterprises, and indigenous-owned businesses to be strong employers of indigenous peoples.”

Jo Donovan, a beneficiary of the programme, turned her hobby into a business after attending IBA’s BDAP. She formed Bandu Catering with her son Aaron Devine and daughter Jessica, both chefs. Bandu (‘food’ in the Dhanggati language) provides quality food, blending native ingredients and flavours with innovative, contemporary Australian cuisine.

The BDAP, which has partnered with the banking sector, has provided over 90 loans valued at 55 million dollars during the last financial year.

“Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partners currently hold more than 68 million dollars in equity across a range of commercial businesses and assets through IBA’s Equity and Investment Programme and the IBA purchased over 2.4 million dollars [of] goods and services from approximately 30 indigenous businesses,” Fry told IPS.

IBA also has a scholarship programme for mature-age, full-time indigenous students to complete tertiary qualifications in business, financial, commercial or economic management disciplines.

As the international community prepares for a new era of development, one that puts sustainability at the heart of poverty-eradication, initiatives like these can provide a blueprint for inclusive and equal growth.

Edited by Kanya D’Almeida