Page 4234 - Week 11 - Thursday, 25 October 2018
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AMC to provide holistic health services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees. This new model of care will provide better continuation of health care for detainees when they enter custody and on their return to the community, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees who are already clients of Winnunga. In effect, it provides a through-care health service that will help to provide more consistent health service delivery for those clients that move from custody to the community and vice versa.
As Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, it has been pleasing to see ACT Corrective Services and ACT Health work collaboratively with Winnunga to develop and agree to a best practice model of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health service delivery at the centre. This groundbreaking partnership will assist in maintaining cultural connections and improving the overall wellbeing and safety of all detainees, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees, by providing a more culturally safe health service within the AMC.
Since 2 July staff from Winnunga have been present at the AMC, developing protocols for service delivery. In preparation for the delivery of health services, the CEO of Winnunga has conducted site visits at the AMC. The Winnunga nurse manager has also undertaken a site visit to observe medication rounds and other health processes within the Hume Health Centre. A senior governance forum will be established as a mechanism for Winnunga, ACT Health and ACT Corrective Services to monitor, manage and develop health services into the future. Winnunga officially launched their model of care in the AMC on 15 October.
As part of Mr Taylor’s closing report, the independent chair expressed his concern about the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration in the ACT. Mr Taylor has urged the ACT government to act now to implement new programs, invest in housing programs and try new and innovative programs to reduce the rate of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. I wish to assure the Assembly and the community that the ACT government takes this advice of Mr Taylor and the implementation oversight steering committee very seriously. The government is committed to addressing elements of the criminal justice system that disproportionately impact on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
This work is further strengthened by committing to a deliberately ambitious measure in the ninth parliamentary agreement to reduce recidivism by 25 per cent by 2025. Justice reinvestment trials form part of our commitment to reducing recidivism. As a comprehensive plan for reducing recidivism is being developed, it will focus on the key issue of reducing the incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
In his report, Mr Taylor has encouraged building on already established programs, such as the Ngurrambai bail support trial that was launched on 7 December 2017, providing individualised bail support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accused persons at the Magistrates Court and on an outreach basis. The importance of housing remains a critical element in improving justice outcomes for people seeking bail and reducing the number of people being held in custody on remand. The
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