Territory Government needs to move on pathways to Justice recommendations

28 March 2019

The Law Society Northern Territory (the Society) supports the call today by the Law Council of Australia for the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to respond to and implement recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission's (ALRC) Pathways to Justice Report.

The Society’s President, Maria Savvas, said “The Pathways to Justice report was released a year ago today and its recommendations offer measures to address the over-incarceration of Indigenous people. This issue continues to be of serious concern in the Northern Territory with our incarcerated youth being almost exclusively Indigenous and our adult prisons filled with disproportionately high numbers of Indigenous people.”

“One recommendation of the Pathways to Justice report was the abolition of mandatory sentencing. This Territory government made a commitment prior to its election to abolish mandatory sentencing and more than 2 years later the community is still waiting for the government to honour its promise.”, Ms Savvas said.

The Society acknowledges the important work of the government with the establishment of its Aboriginal Justice Unit and the work toward an Aboriginal Justice Agreement for the Northern Territory but is

concerned by the government’s failure to implement the evidence-based recommendations made by the ALRC.

“The Territory government supported the ALRC inquiry, however on the anniversary of the release of its report we are still waiting for the Territory’s response to the report’s recommendations and action to implement those recommendations. We call on the Territory government to respond to the recommendations of the Pathways to Justice report and to take steps to see those recommendations become reality.”

End Of Release.