Senator Lidia Thorpe has called on the Albanese government to use it's constitutional power to ensure the SCAG Bail and Remand Reform Working Group report is acted on, following its release today.
Read about the constitutional 'external affairs' powers here, which gives the Commonwealth the powers to set legislated national minimum standards for the criminal legal system that give effect to treaties that Australia has signed with other countries.
The SCAG report, completed in July and produced by officials from every jurisdiction alongside First Nations representatives, outlines urgent reforms to bail and remand laws.
It recommends loosening punitive bail laws, scrapping stand-alone breach-of-bail offences, reinstating the principle that imprisonment should be a last resort, and introducing specific protections for children and First Peoples.
While the report has now been released, it was not been endorsed by members of SCAG, with Attorney-General Rowland saying it is up to the states and territories to decide what happens next.
Many jurisdictions have signalled they will refuse to implement its recommendations, despite evidence that punitive bail laws are driving the incarceration of First Peoples.
While the Attorney General has claimed the Commonwealth does not have responsibility for this criminal legal system, this is false.
See previous media release on the report here.
Quotes attributable to Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator:
"Unless the Commonwealth steps in, this will be yet another report gathering dust. The states and territories commissioned it at huge taxpayer cost, and now refuse to endorse it because they don’t like what it says.
"They have no intention of implementing the recommendations — they just want to keep pushing mindless, populist ‘tough on crime’ approaches that aren’t based on evidence and are killing our people.
"It’s time for the Commonwealth to step up. Attorney-General Rowland keeps claiming the federal government has no role, but that’s simply false.
"Under section 51 of the Constitution, the Commonwealth has the power to legislate national minimum standards for the criminal legal system — standards that meet our human rights obligations and protect First Peoples and our children.
"The federal government can hold the states accountable. They can attach conditions to funding to ensure states comply with human rights, the Closing the Gap justice targets, and national minimum standards. And they can sanction jurisdictions that escalate the criminalisation of First Peoples.
"Legal experts have told the Commonwealth this over and over — they have the constitutional, financial and political power to act. They just refuse to use it. Pretending they’re powerless while our people are being tortured, abused and locked up is a weak cop-out.
"First Peoples and our children deserve a government that will stand up to the states, not hide behind them.
"The Attorney-General, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, and the Prime Minister need to show some leadership and guts on this, and start using the powers they have."