Minute by the Lord Mayor
To Council:
Vibrant,
liveable cities are inclusive cities. They are also safe cities.
At the City
of Sydney, we welcome the contributions made by all people and we work hard to
build social cohesion and combat disadvantage.
Yet despite
our best efforts, widespread disadvantage persists. Sydney is Australia’s least
affordable city and homelessness is at unprecedented levels. While unemployment
is low, insecure work is high, creating a new class of working poor. And
although we have come a long way in our understanding of mental illness and
substance abuse, specialist services for treating these conditions are
stretched beyond capacity, especially since Covid.
The
relationship between these sources of disadvantage and incarceration is clear.
Homelessness, unemployment, mental illness and substance abuse are both a cause
and a consequence of incarceration.
In NSW,
complex health issues are much higher among people in prison than the general
population, 50 per cent of people released from prison are homeless and
two-thirds of those who return to gaol were unemployed at the time they
committed their offence.
Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people have the unfortunate distinction of being the
most incarcerated people in the world. In NSW, Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander adults make up 26 per cent of the prison population despite making up
just three per cent of the general population. And Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander children account for 42 per cent of children in custody despite making
up just six per cent of the general population between the ages of 10 and 17.
I am
pleased to say the relationship between police and Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander young people in the City of Sydney has improved greatly since I first
represented Redfern in the 1980s. However, as long as kids between the ages of
10 and 13 can be deemed criminally liable for their actions, too many children
will come into contact with the criminal justice system instead of getting the
help they need at home and at school.
I know of a
12-year-old Aboriginal boy in the City of Sydney who was recently charged with
larceny for taking a $1 Slurpee from a convenience store. His home was searched
by police and his school records were obtained with a view to showing he knew
right from wrong. His mother – a sole parent – took time off work to attend her
son’s police and court dates.
I am not
suggesting we turn a blind eye to shop lifting. But I am suggesting this is an
expensive and wholly ineffective way of dealing with a young child who took a
drink from a store.
We also
know that women’s prisons are full of victim-survivors of domestic violence.
Across Australia, around 70 per cent of women in gaol have been in an abusive
relationship, with this figure rising even higher for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander women in gaol.
And even
though we lock all of these people up – at a cost of $1 billion a year in NSW
and $5 billion a year across Australia – gaols are not leading to a reduction
in crime. Fifty per cent of people released from prison in NSW will return to
prison within two years.
Australia’s
punitive response to disadvantage – which has been pursued by both sides of
politics for the last 30 years – is not working. It’s not working for offenders
of crime, it’s not working for victims of crime and it’s not working for the
community at large.
This is why
I am so pleased to welcome the formation of the Justice Reform Initiative, a
bipartisan organisation seeking evidenced-based criminal justice policies
across Australia that identify alternatives to incarceration and enhance
community safety.
I also
encourage other Councils to support this campaign. Though States and
Territories are primarily responsible for crime, housing and health, as the
level of government closest to the community we see the fallout from the lack
of investment in social services every day.
To the Chair
of the Justice Reform Initiative, Robert Tickner AO, and the many other
prominent Australians who are campaigning for a more compassionate and
effective response to disadvantage and crime
- we support your campaign.
COUNCILLOR
CLOVER MOORE
Lord Mayor
Moved by
the Chair (the Lord Mayor) –
It is resolved that:
(A)
Council:
(i)
reaffirm
its commitment to building social cohesion and combatting disadvantage;
(ii)
note
the well-established nexus between incarceration and homelessness,
unemployment, mental illness, substance abuse and other socioeconomic causes of
crime;
(iii)
note
the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and
the high number of women who are victim-survivors of domestic violence, in NSW
gaols;
(iv)
note
that $1 billion dollars is spent on running NSW gaols each year;
(v)
note
that 50 per cent of those who are released from NSW gaols return within two
years;
(vi)
welcome
the formation of the Justice Reform Initiative, a bipartisan organisation
seeking evidenced-based criminal justice policies across Australia that
identify alternatives to incarceration and enhance community safety;
(vii)
call on
all NSW parliamentarians to support evidenced-based criminal justice policies,
including those that address the underlying causes of crime such as
homelessness, unemployment, mental illness and substance abuse; and
(viii)
call on
all NSW parliamentarians to raise the age of criminal responsibility; and
(B)
the
Lord Mayor be requested to write to the NSW Premier and Attorney General, and the
Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Attorney General, expressing Council’s
support for the Justice Reform Initiative’s campaign for:
(i)
evidenced-based
criminal justice reform;
(ii)
reduced
incarceration; and
(iii)
a
greater emphasis on addressing the sources of disadvantage that lead to, and
flow from, incarceration.
Carried
unanimously.
S051491