Reports from Regional Australia

on demand service. The coverage was really good because it gave a voice to Kevin Henry's family, the Rockhampton and Wuabinda community, and also people like Lex Wotton who traveled down to speak at the rally, and it's gained further traction for Kevin Henry's case around Queensland and around Australia. Now. In addition to the rally, there's also been a number

of petitions circulating. There's one online that will post on the website again for those who may wish to sign and there's also been written petitions that are going around Queensland for people who don't necessarily have access to computers,

and those petitions will be collected separately. Amy's going to read you just some of the comments that have been left on the main petition that will be online, just to give you an idea of the feedback we've been getting about the case of Kevin Henry and what people have been saying since the.

then he deserves a retrial cat rights. I'm tired of our so called justice system, which is anything but just. It serves no one except for the legal industry and a corrupt political and economic system we were all disempowered by. This is just one of many injustices innocent people have faced and continue to face. It's time for change, one step at a time, and Josh writes this case needs a revisit as a lack of evidence is unbelievable. A fair trial is more than necessary. Kevin has been locked

up since the year I was born. This man has been imprisoned for my whole life, twenty five years. Imagine what it's like to be in his shoes. I'm sure anyone with compassion or empathy would sign just on that basis, even without taking into account the injustice that has taken place. And we even attracted a couple of more high profile signatures, including pad O'Shane, who was Ashe's first female Aboriginal magistrate, and she wrote I am angry about injustice and closing.

Danielle writes that stated facts don't add up and it is illogical to put anyone in jail when there is overwhelming doubt. Also, I personally am aware, even in today's unfortunate cultural acceptance of the normality of bias and prejudicial behavior towards people from Robinda. All you have to do is go into any pub in central Queensland and listen to the filth that comes out of far too many

men and women's asked towards Aboriginal people. Sometimes that has included a couple of local police persons.

Islander people who are in prison. So this episode we're going to spend a little bit of time focusing on this issue of regional Australia, the policing, the justice system, and why so many Aboriginal in Torostraight Islander people from regional Australia end up in the prison system despite the crime rates actually being considerably lower than the major cities.

And given Kevin Henry is from regional Australia and this case focuses on regional Australia, we think it's really important to point these things out.

with the justice system. It created quite a lot of media coverage and it was all focused around one disgraceful statistic that rates of female Indigenous imprisonment have increased two hundred and forty eight percent since the ninety ninety one report into the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. But as usual, the media didn't look close enough. Martin, what did you think when you looked and read.

time is down around forty percent. In fact, it's down thirty percent in just the last ten years, and yet we are seeing this dramatic increase in the number of

people who are spending time in the prison system. I think one of the things that was missed by the media in reporting on this very good report and work that was done some of the issues that lead to people being incarcerated in the first place, and what we know about the vast preponderance of the women, in particular that they come from backgrounds of housing insecurity, poverty, They may have a mental illness or disability, and often suffer

very severe effects of trauma and colonization. So the trauma might be very modern in terms of domestic violence, assault at hands of police and other officials, and all sorts of trauma, and the colonization trauma is obviously one that

continues throughout the generations where the cycle hasn't been broken. Now, the other thing that the media did not pick up on that I think was pointed out but has been completely glossed over, is the number of Aboriginal women who have been placed on remand that is, locked up before their trial and who never go on to serve any sentence. Now, some of these people might be found guilty and are

just being sentenced to time already served. But we know a huge number of these women are held on remand and then freed post their trial with no conviction recorded. So with crime stats amongst Aboriginal people going down, remand rates are going up, and the incarceration rate overall is going up, these two things are diametrically opposed, and yet no one seems to be pointing that out, and I find that particularly concerning, and Mardin.

where Linda was murdered. Nearly fifty percent of all Indigenous prisoners come from regional Australia, and that is despite them being a much smaller overall population compared to the large Indigenous populations we see in Darwin, Sydney and Brisbane in particular. So both men and women from regional areas are disproportionately locked up despite the crime rates being no higher. Their

locality is almost fifty percent regional areas. Now, if we look back at what the report found in terms of housing, insecurity, poverty, mental illness and disability, domestic violence and trauma, regional Australia is exactly where these services are clearly lacking. Now, I don't think that would come as a surprise to anyone at all. But if we're going to stop this increase that's already two hundred plus percent in just a number of decades, the media needs to first report and the

politicians need to understand why this is happening. But because the link is not being made by the fifty percent coming from regional Australia and the lack of services, particularly for women and also juvenile Aboriginal people and children in regional Australia. If this correction is not made, we will get to a point where it's one thousand percent increase.

electorates can cover vath swathes of Australia's regional areas. Many of these regional areas have been held by the National Party or the Liberal Party for generations and generations, and so funding is just not a priority. But just from the brief amount of study we've done just for this episode, but it's something Amy and I know because of the work we've done for so long that regional areas are neglected.

And it doesn't surprise us at all that the statistics that are coming out now show what is occurring, which is that a huge number of Aboriginal and torrestrate Islander people from regional life Australia are going to prison, are spending enormous times on remand. And remember many prisons are not located in regional Australia, so people are moved five, six ten hours away from where they live to be

on remand. And now we know as well the factors that are pushing these people into prison also the areas that receive the least amount of funding and support. This is not rocket science, and yet it continues to go ignored and sadly, the media had an opportunity this week to address this issue and simply didn't despite the information being right in front of their faces.

been drastically cut in the last few years. There's endless transport to Nara and Golden Prison on a daily basis, but there is absolutely no public transport for people who might wish to seek further education, who might need to access medical services. So just observing it on a day to day basis amongst the people we know and having grown up in these areas, these regional areas as we do. It's very obvious to ask why this takes place. But again, as Amy correctly points out, the focus tends to be

on the major cities or the remote areas. And we're not saying those areas don't need funding, that people from those areas don't go to prison at alarming rates when they simply don't belong there. They absolutely do. What we're pointing out is that the statistics are disproportionately against Aboriginal Andora Straight Islander people from regional Australia and that cannot be ignored any longer when looking.

a clear issue here. We know Tanuba House was where many homeless people and people suffering housing insecurity were Poverty is another issue that was raised, and we know that everyone who was at Tanuba House was suffering from poverty, mental illness, disability and undiagnosed conditions were a huge issue. These were things that services at Tanuba were trying to address but clearly underfunded. And the effects of trauma and colonization. And I think there wasn't a person there that night.

Everybody who was there that night had been a victim of trauma and the ongoing effects of colonization. We know also, of course, the community of Warabinda was particularly impacted by forced removals. We know Sherberg, where some of the other people who were there that night were from, has been tragically impacted by government policy for more than one hundred years.

And rock Hampton itself, the Aboriginal community in rock Hampton too has been subject to really gross human rights violations for a considerable period of time, hundreds of years, while all the sort of health and education services services to address issues like alcoholism domestic violence go completely unfunded. And there is an absolute correlation between Kevin's case and these statistics that have come out this week now, Mardin.

The fact is it simply isn't. So I'll give you what the actual stats are, and these are from the Bureau of Statistics and a report recently compiled by doctor Don Weatherburn from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. For every one hundred thousand Aboriginal people, there are one thousand, eight hundred and thirty in prison. For every one hundred thousand Aboriginal and Tores Straight Islander people, there are four hundred and fifty in university. Now, clearly the statistic stand

Grant has given is the wrong way way around. It's for every four Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people who are in prison, there is one in university. It is not the other way around. And once again, it would be fine to say these things, and it would be wonderful news if it was true. And there's a great deal of evidence to tell us why this is not true and why claiming such a statistic is wrong and should have been obviously wrong to anyone versed in these issues.

Just ten percent of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children who leave year twelve receive a mark that would make them eligible for university. That's as opposed to forty six percent from a non Aboriginal background. Now, to put those figures in context, that ten percent who get the grade to go to UNI, eighty five percent of Maori in New Zealand receive a university entrance score, and sixty five

percent of Native Americans in the United States. Now, there are also some other figures that need to be pointed out. The completion rate for university for Aboriginal Andentario Straight Islander students is around a third so from the latest statistics for twenty fifteen, While some twoy one hundred Aboriginal Onentari

Straight Island students enrolled less than six hundred graduated. So again you can pick the higher figure that are entering but not making it through again is the issue, and this issue is much the same as when we talk about incarceration. It comes down to a lack of support, It comes down to being moved a long way from home, family and country. It comes down to a misrepresentation of

what is happening on the ground. To say that four for everyone are in UNI instead of jail a is not accurate, but also misses the point that fifty percent of all juvenile prisoners in Australia are Aboriginal, despite being less than three percent of the population. How on earth can our young people be ready for university when of all of those young people in juvenile detention are Aboriginal people.

something we shouldn't ignore. And it sort of feels as if comparing the two, even though the figures are completely wrong, are almost acts as if it's covering up the problem, as if we shouldn't be talking about it when it's a very present issue.

seeing crime amongst Aboriginal people go down. Violent crime in particular is down forty three percent amongst Aboriginal people in the last ten years in New South Wales, and yet incarceration rates for Aboriginal people in New South Wales have gone up eighty four percent in the same time. So it's very irresponsible because it sends a message to the broader public that things are on the improof when the

statistics clearly show they are not. And how we ever expected to reverse these drastic and horrific stats of Aboriginal entorres Strait Islander people being sent to prison clearly for nonviolent crimes. In the large part, when people are sharing statistics who are given a large platform that make the nation believe the majority of Aboriginal people are attending university rather than suffering because of incarceration. And remember it's not

just the person who goes to prison that suffers. Again, if we come back to the case of Kevin Henry, twenty five years of his life stolen away, look at the impact it has had on his family, Look at the impact it's had on the community of Warabinda and the community in Rockhampton. These are one hundred of people detrimentally impacted for twenty five plus years. Look at the suffering cause to Lenda's family. This is something they'll never

get over. So sharing stats that are both wrong and have no comparison or relevance to each other whatsoever will not make any difference for Aboriginal entrres Strait Islander people. It'll simply mean the blinkers are applied even more.