The high number of young Aboriginal people involved in the criminal justice system is a sad reality in Australia, according to a group working toward curbing the numbers.
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Drugs, alcohol and a lack of education and employment are some of the issues the Aboriginal Community Justice Group is dealing with.
It is part of a federal parliamentary inquiry now underway.
“The criminal justice system is where a lot of our problems are,” Justice Group chairperson Evelyn Barker said.
“There’s not enough focus on rehabilitation.
“There needs to be a chance for rehabilitation first and then punishment if that doesn’t work, unless it’s really bad, sometimes people really have to go behind bars.
“But at the end of the day, jail’s really not the answer. We’ve known that for years.”
Confidence plays a big part in children’s development, group members said when discussing the role of education.
“Playing sports through school makes a huge difference,” Ms Barker said.
“There’s a significant amount of kids who don’t make it to Year 12,” group member Tony Amatto said.
“Why are the kids not staying at school, that’s what we need to find out and address.”
But Ms Barker and Mr Amatto both remember having the same discussion about educating young Aboriginal people back in the seventies and eighties.
“We’ve come a full circle,” Mr Amatto said.
“In the late 70s, early 80s, there was good faith and support from government departments and governments - state and federal - to be involved. To help.
“But John Howard undid a lot of years of achievements in Aboriginal affairs.
“When he got in, what was the first thing he did? Took $460 million from the Aboriginal affairs department.”
When Kevin Rudd put on the prime minister’s hat, Mr Amatto thought Aboriginal affairs would be taken off the backburner.
“We thought there’d be a move by him toward structured programs for Aboriginal people - cultural programs that suited us,” he said. “We expected a dismantling, not overnight, but we thought it would happen. We thought there would be a timeframe, but there’s not.”
But the group has not given up.
“We’re slowly getting our confidence up,” Ms Barker said.
It will respond to a series of questions from the House of Representatives in Canberra.
