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Just Reinvest NSW

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25.01.2022 Today we navigate the grief and trauma that pervades us as we mourn 30 years since the finding of the Royal Commission into Aborignal Deaths in Custody. We take time for our brothers, sisters, parents and children whose rights have been stolen as they lose their lives in the care of the state. We reflect on our efforts to mobilise our communities and to change the hearts and minds of those in power. We continue our fight to dismantle the patchwork legislation which has so of...ten failed to protect us, and that has been continually white anted by succeeding governments which fail to listen to the strength and power that lies with our peoples. Our existence is resistance. No service was ever given to us, we had to fight for it, staff and service it ourselves. Carrying coffins through the streets, we demanded not just answers but solutions from our government to stop the murder of our people. And yet, 30 years on, the disease of racism still plagues our system of injustice. In the last 8 weeks we have seen a tragic and devastating spike in the number of deaths in custody. 54% of all mob deaths in custody are whilst in remand, in protective custody or while being arrested or pursued. People who have not been charged as guilty, yet were sentenced to death by our justice system. Today, we remember them. Everyday, we fight for, and alongside them. We can do better. We must do better. So as you reflect on the trauma of our histories and dare to imagine a better future for tomorrow I must ask, nunga dunga wunar? Which in the language of my peoples means what brings you here?

25.01.2022 Check out this song from Chrissy! We are lucky enough to get to work with Chrissy on the Mounty Yarns project- the lived experiences of Aboriginal young people in Mt Druitt. Somebody sign him! Like! Share! and subscribe on Youtube!... Kobie Dee Aboriginal Legal Service Community Legal Centres NSW Youth Action NSW

24.01.2022 Just Reinvest NSW joins the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) in calling on the NSW Government to take strong steps towards their commitment to the new Closing the Gap Agreement, by voluntarily adopting more ambitious justice targets and by funding initiatives such as the Walama Court and community-led justice reinvestment. The new Closing the Gap Agreement represents an opportunity for Australian governments and First Nations peoples to work together to build safe and stro...ng communities, and we are calling on the NSW Government to lead the way, Just Reinvest NSW co-chair Sarah Hopkins said. The Summer bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic have shown us both the strength of Aboriginal communities in responding to crisis, as well as the the importance of governments getting behind community-led initiatives as a way to build resilience and ensure that people across NSW get access to the supports they need, when they need it. Aboriginal communities have been generating ideas and solutions for generations, and now is the perfect time for governments to get behind initiatives such as community-led justice reinvestment and the proposed Walama Court. Through Maranguka, the Bourke Aboriginal community is showing what’s possible when governments, public services, philanthropists and civil society turn up to support a community-led agenda. Just Reinvest NSW is now working with community members in Moree and Mount Druitt to explore the possibilities of community-led justice reinvestment. They need funding support to get the initiatives they are designing off the ground, and numerous other communities are keen to start similar conversations. The proposed Walama Court is an important part of a justice reinvestment approach. By supporting this systems change along with community-led justice reinvestment on the ground, NSW can take significant steps towards reducing the number of Aboriginal people being unnecessarily locked up. Working together to support Aboriginal community leadership, NSW can turn the corner. We’re encouraging the NSW Government to respond to this new opportunity to ‘close the gap’ by elevating the voices of Aboriginal community members, especially the voices of Aboriginal people with disability, women and young people, Sarah Hopkins said. An important accountability mechanism for the NSW Government in forming jurisdictional agreements is to take on and work towards ambitious NSW specific justice targets, as called for last week by the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT. Sarah Hopkins is Co-Chair of Just Reinvest NSW and the Managing Solicitor of Justice Projects at the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT. http://www.justreinvest.org.au/just-reinvest-nsw-calls-for/

23.01.2022 TODAY!! 3 - 7pm on Bidjigal Land. Coral Sea Park Maroubra ... Kobie Dee Weave Youth & Community Services

20.01.2022 Check out Just Reinvest NSW co-chair Sarah Hopkins in the NSWCCL First Nations justice webinar https://www.nswccl.org.au/nswccl_2020_fundraiser_first_nati

19.01.2022 "Although Black and Latino students make up only 66 percent of the student population, we made up 91 percent of arrests and 94 percent of summonses in New York City public schools in 2019-2020 school year. And while we have heard that arrests and summons are generally declining in NYC, the data shows that arrests and summonses are still disproportionately Black and Latino students. To make matters worse, 9 percent (or nearly 240,000) of city students report having police but... no psychologist, nurse, social workers and/or guidance counselor within their school. In these instances, if I am a young person in need of counseling or academic support, I am more likely to encounter a police officer exacerbating my distress than a supportive staff person who will listen to me and connect me to resources." - Leah Moise is a rising junior at the Worldview High School in the Dewitt Clinton Campus and a youth keader at Sistas and Brothas United at Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition. See more

19.01.2022 Congratulations to the NAC boys for winning their Grand Final!!! Thanks our Youth Ambassadors' Terleaha Williams and Isaiah Sines for helping to coordinate and lead the team and importantly the Children's Court Assistance Scheme - wsclc! Looking forward to next season!

19.01.2022 NATSILS - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services's 'is calling for governments to heed its Black Lives Matter policy statement , which calls on governments to support affected families, for those involved in deaths in custody to be held personally accountable through criminal and civil processes, as well as more resources for diversionary programs like justice reinvestment.'

18.01.2022 The two police officers who were referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions will NOT be charged over the death in custody of Tanya Day. NATSILS stands by t...he Day family as they make renewed calls for accountability and for police to stop investigating police. This needs to end, and it needs to end now. Until police stop investigating police, there will be no accountability. Until there is accountability there will be no true justice, and our people will continue to die," said NATSILS co-chair Cheryl Axleby. "There have been at least three confirmed Black deaths in custody in the past two months. We demand independent investigations of Black deaths in custody and support the Day’s family’s calls for justice." bit.ly/3lmhp4X

18.01.2022 "To have 1,500 people suddenly no longer in the system, to stem the flow of receptions into prison in such a short space of time albeit because of a really significant health crisis is cause for optimism, because it shows incarceration is a policy choice, not an inevitability," - Dr Mindy Sotiri said. "...what we now need to start thinking about is, in times where we're not dealing with considerable health concerns, why is it okay to have a really over-crowded prison system? And why aren't we looking at ways to empty it in the ways we've done in this past few months?"

17.01.2022 "I talk about a status quo where people want you to be locked up. Don't satisfy them with getting into trouble and getting locked up. You don't need to fall into that trap."- Archie Roach

16.01.2022 Come work with us! We are hiring a Maranguka Justice Reinvestment Project Officer - Full time. Applications close: Monday, 21 September 2020. Spread the word! More information here: ... https://www.justreinvest.org.au/come-work-with-maranguka-j/ See more

15.01.2022 South East Block Party is on this Friday 3-7pm at Coral Sea Park Maroubra Bidjigal Land. I’ve been wanting to put an event like this on in my own community sinc...e I was a kid. I’m keen as to have Barkaa Planet Vegeta and #YoungGunsOriginal joining me on stage. This event is for the whole community all ages with activities for the kids, food and basketball. This is a drug and alcohol free event. I’m producing this event in partnership with @Weave Youth & Community Services and Randwick City Council Shoutout to our event sponsors The National Centre of Indigenous Excellence Sony Music Publishing O'Brien Criminal and Civil Solicitors, Sydney #CollectiveArtists #SouthEastBlockParty21 #YouthWeek2021 #TogetherMoreThanEver

15.01.2022 What keeps us safe, and what will stop more deaths in custody? The answer most definitely is not the quick fix of big prisons and tougher bail legislation. Instead, we need to invest in social and legal infrastructure that doesn’t remove Aboriginal people from society, but supports us to engage and grow: education, family, housing, mental health and wellbeing support. ... Aboriginal people need our lives to be valued, and our history and culture to be known and accepted. This is the investment that lays the foundations for generations to grow stronger. IndigenousX

13.01.2022 Reviews are in from some of our youngest critics yet - have a read of this poignant article written by Nyla, Charly & Ginger, Year 6 at Kegworth Primary School ...(on Wangal land) in their school paper. "Kids need an education to succeed and prosper. However, living in a [Youth Detention Centre] would mean that even though you would get an education, it wouldn’t be as good as one in a proper school. Dujuan has created a documentary called ‘In My Blood It Runs’ and he says that some of the subjects that are taught at Dujuan’s school are focussed on white people and he feels that Aboriginals are excluded. Indigenous kids are bullied and have major disadvantages compared to others. Some indigenous kids feel that school is only for white people and racism is one of the reasons that they are pushed into YDC... ...We feel that the age must be changed because it’s not right for children as young as 10 to be in jail. All of our friends could be in YDC and that’s a strange thing to think about considering that we are all so young to end up living like that."

12.01.2022 ‘Mparntwe locals and justice advocates say an investment in community-led initiatives is crucial in addressing an increase of youth crime in the town, rather than stronger "punitive" laws proposed by the NT government.’

12.01.2022 ‘Labor has announced a $170 million plan to reduce the number of Indigenous people going to jail and make sure the lessons of every death in custody is learned. On the 30th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handing down its findings, Labor’s spokeswoman on Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, says the nation is now in a worse place than we were 30 years ago on the problem... Labor is proposing to give a major funding boost to establish j...ustice reinvestment in 30 communities around the country in a bid to reduce rates of incarceration while addressing the underlying disadvantage that lands people in jail.’ #RCIADIC #BuildCommunitiesNotPrisons

11.01.2022 ... data shows 13 per cent of strip searches are undertaken on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, a demographic that makes up only 3 percent of the state's population.

11.01.2022 Check out the latest Maranguka Newsletter and all the amazing work happening in Bourke.

10.01.2022 #buildcommunitiesnotprisons

09.01.2022 As our jail filled up we had to decide whether to build a bigger jail, which would cost around $200 million, or go down this path of justice reinvestment, ACT Minister for Corrections and Justice Shane Rattenbury said. I guess that was a pivot moment. We took the decision to not expand the jail and instead invest our money into Aboriginal-led programs.

07.01.2022 "Local court data obtained by the Herald under freedom of information laws shows Aboriginal people who live in the Richmond-Tweed region and Sydney city areas were twice as likely as non-Aboriginal people to go to jail for any offence in the four years up to 2019." Sadly the statistics in this article are all too familiar...There are currently two proposals before the NSW Government for funding in the upcoming budget - solutions that would drive down the over-imprisonment of Aboriginal people in NSW - funding to support community-led justice reinvestment and the Walama Court. #BuildCommunitiesNotPrisons

06.01.2022 Please join this webinar - starts at 1pm:

06.01.2022 15 families have united together in solidarity, leading a campaign to end the injustice of Black deaths in custody once and for all. In honour of their loved on...es who have died, they are calling on the PM to meet with them, to sit down in conversation about solutions to effectively end Black deaths in custody for future generations. Today, on the anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, please read and share their demands for change. Their voices must be heard. #RCIADIC30Years #BlackLivesMatter #stopaboriginaldeathsincustody #DavidDungay #MsDhu #JusticeforTane #JusticeforGJRoe #JusticeforTanyaDay #JusticeforFella #JusticeforSherry

06.01.2022 May I remind you all that we are on stolen land? The Aboriginal flag represents the oldest continuing, living culture in the world, My people have been here for thousands and thousands and thousands of generations. The Aboriginal flag is what we identify with, what we connect with. - Senator Lidia Thorpe

06.01.2022 'The New South Wales police spent $24m of taxpayer money on almost 300 civil legal claims brought against officers during the last financial year.' This is money that should be used to support and protect communities, rather than deliver secret payouts, David Shoebridge MP said.

06.01.2022 "The pandemic presents an opportunity to reimagine our criminal legal system and the damage it causes to the kids that become entangled in its web. To keep kids safe during the pandemic, governments must opt for release over subjecting children to the brutality of solitary confinement. Beyond this, governments must recognise that we are all better off when children are in playgrounds and classrooms, not behind bars."- Monique Hurley is a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre.

06.01.2022 'The ACT has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to support raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, in a move hailed by justice campaigners as a huge win for the rights of children.' There should be nothing stopping other jurisdictions to follow suit. The longer they wait, the longer little kids are exposed to the harmful conditions of prison.- Joel Clark, Amnesty International Australia’s Indigenous rights advocate. We all know in our hearts that it’s wrong to lock little kids up, especially when all the evidence shows that diversion and justice reinvestment is what actually prevents youth offending,

05.01.2022 'The 19-year-old said the police officers, two large men, then grabbed her throat and slammed her into the gate.' "I was in shock, I couldn't believe it... you see this stuff happen to my family members and on TV, you never think you would be a victim of police brutality," Anaywan and Birripa woman Tarniesha Widder said.

05.01.2022 MEDIA RELEASE: NSW Budget a missed opportunity to fund key proposals to reduce Aboriginal over-imprisonment Just Reinvest NSW has expressed disappointment that proposals to fund Aboriginal community-led justice reinvestment initiatives and the Walama Court were not taken up in the NSW Budget. COVID-19 has shown the strength of Aboriginal communities in responding to crisis, as well as the importance of governments getting behind community-led initiatives to build resilience..., so it’s disappointing that the NSW Government has missed this opportunity, Just Reinvest NSW Co-chair Professor Jack Beetson said. Despite broad support and numerous report recommendations calling on the NSW Government to invest in community-led justice reinvestment following the progress of Maranguka in Bourke, the NSW Government is yet to commit funding for other communities to lead a similar process. Through Maranguka, the Bourke Aboriginal community is showing what’s possible when governments, public services, philanthropists and civil society support a community-led agenda. Communities in Moree and Mount Druitt are ready to explore the possibilities of community-led justice reinvestment and take the lead on driving down imprisonment rates, Professor Beetson said. Just Reinvest NSW Co-chair Sarah Hopkins said: Funding for residential rehabilitation in Dubbo is a welcome commitment in the Budget, but sadly the Government has missed the opportunity to act on other recommendations of the recent Inquiry into the Drug Ice. Aboriginal community leadership to drive change and identify solutions is fundamental, and this Budget could have supported communities to address the underlying issues driving offending, and keep young people, women and men away from the criminal justice system. If the NSW Government wants to meet the targets in the new National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap over the next 10 years, community-led change through justice reinvestment must be part of the NSW Government’s plan. Increased investment in police, as we’ve seen yet again in this Budget won’t deliver the outcomes that the NSW Government want to achieve. If the Government is serious about reducing reoffending and reducing imprisonment rates for Aboriginal people, we need to see increased investment into communities. Sarah Hopkins said. Professor Jack Beetson is a Ngemba man, Co-Chair of Just Reinvest NSW and Executive Director of the Literacy for Life Foundation. Sarah Hopkins is Co-Chair of Just Reinvest NSW and the Managing Solicitor of Justice Projects at the Aboriginal Legal Service ACT/NSW.

04.01.2022 Just Reinvest NSW welcomes the NSW Govt announcement to contribute funding to develop a much-needed residential alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility in Dubbo. Great to see Dubbo Regional Council working alongside local Aboriginal organisations to support this important initiative. Diversions out of the criminal justice system and into support services that address the drivers of offending are a critical part of a justice reinvestment framework. By working with and suppo...rting local communities with lived experience and expertise, all levels of government can play an important role in building safer, stronger communities. Great work Dubbo Needs a Rehab, Stephen Lawrence, Deputy Mayor - Dubbo Region. and all involved!

04.01.2022 Come work with us? We’re hiring a Projects and Administration Officer for our Moree Justice Reinvestment Team. The position is 3 days a week and applications close 5pm Monday 21st September. See application pack and position description below. https://www.justreinvest.org.au/come-work-with-moree-justi/

04.01.2022 After seeing how much good it can do for other people, it’s made me wanna talk more about my struggles and what I go through because I know it helps people. That’s my biggest goal on this earth is to help people. To know that I can do that just by telling my story, it’s powerful, it’s empowering." - Kobie Dee Read this incredibly powerful piece following Kobie's music and advocacy. We are so lucky to have Kobie as a Youth Ambassador for Just Reinvest NSW

03.01.2022 ‘Up to two-thirds of children denied bail in Victoria were in custody unnecessarily, the state’s children’s commissioner has said, after a report found two-thirds of those on remand did not go on to receive a custodial sentence.’ ‘The cost of holding the 442 children on remand in 2017-18 was $41m, and the cost of detaining those who did not receive a custodial sentence was $15m.’

03.01.2022 Come work with us! We are hiring a Moree Justice Reinvestment Project and Administration Officer - Part time, 3 days a week. Applications close: Monday, 21 September 2020. Spread the word! More information here: ... https://www.justreinvest.org.au/come-work-with-moree-justi/ See more

03.01.2022 Please take action now. The solutions are clear - recommendations from the Royal Commission 30 years ago are yet to be implemented. Numerous inquiries since then have detailed further reforms and initiatives to strengthen communities and drive down incarceration.... The solutions are there. Write to your Local MP now. Changetherecord.org.au/emailMP #RCIADIC Change the Record

02.01.2022 In 2016, we knew that approximately 46% of people in Australians prisons were incarcerated for non-violent offences. The cost of incarceration of people in prisons for non-violent offences equates up to $1.8bn nationwide. We need to be looking at redirecting those funds to services that adequately and appropriately address the social issues around non-violent offences. Prison abolition is not about simply opening the prisons up and letting dangerous people into the community. It is about supporting the services that are integral to society. This includes housing, health, education and employment. These areas have all been defunded, yet this is not seen as radical it is almost expected and accepted. https://www.theguardian.com//defunding-the-police-and-abol