The majority of recommendations made by the Yoorrook Justice Commission, a body tasked with investigating historical injustices against Aboriginal Victorians have been accepted, but three relating to youth offenders have been rejected outright by the state’s government.
Yoorrook, which means “truth” in the language of the Wemba/Wamba people was set up to provide a platform for Aboriginal Victorians to share their stories of the impacts of colonisation, dispossession, and systemic racism.
It also investigates the past maltreatment of indigenous people such as the theft of land, forced removal of children, and other forms of discrimination and violence.
It forms part of the government’s response to the final report of the royal commission into aboriginal deaths in custody, which highlighted the need for truth-telling and reconciliation to address systemic issues faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
As part of its interim report published in September, the commission issued 46 key recommendations.
On April 3, Premier Jacinta Allan announced the Victorian government would be adopting four recommendations in full, 24 in principle and said 15 were still under consideration. A recommendation to establish a new independent police oversight authority was upheld.
However, three report recommendations were rejected outright, including the contentious advice to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years without exceptions and prohibit the detention of children under 16 years.
Recommendation Stemming From Controversial Death Not Taken Up
Also not adopted was an amendment to the Bail Act that would have seen magistrates opt for bail as a first presumption except in cases of capital crimes and terrorism.The rejection is a potential flashpoint for the Indigenous community, as it has its genesis in the death of 37-year-old Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri, and Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Marie Nelson. She died in a Victorian maximum security prison in 2020, leading to an accusation of a cover-up by contractor Correct Care and the Department of Justice.
Speaking on the centre’s website about the exclusion, Monique Hurley, managing lawyer at Human Rights Law Centre said, “The evidence is clear—prisons do not make communities safer.”
“As heard by Yoorrook, discriminatory laws, systemic racism, and racist policing are a toxic combination resulting in an unjust legal system that enables the mass imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she said.
Eleanor Bourke, chair of the Yoorrook Commission, said she and her fellow authors were also disappointed by the government’s decisions, adding that accountability hearings may be scheduled in the coming months to follow-up the implementation of adopted recommendations.
“Recommendations regarding the Bail Act and the minimum age of criminal responsibility and detention are crucial given the alarming over-incarceration of First Peoples adults and children and ongoing deaths in custody. These recommendations were not made lightly. They go to the heart of addressing ongoing injustice against First Peoples,” Ms. Bourke said.
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service Chief Executive Nerita Waigh accused the government of making decisions with haste and not giving due attention to the recommendations.
“We have waited over 210 days for the Victorian government to respond to the Yoorrook for Justice Report and it reads like it was slapped together overnight. It is so disappointing that the Victorian government did not take this more seriously and develop a more detailed response that supported in full all recommendations,” she said.
The commission will issue the final report sometime in 2025.
