MOUNT Isa's Indigenous justice division may influence the national model to reverse the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in prison.
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Father Mick Lowcock from the North West Queensland Indigenous Catholic Social Services (NWQICSS) submitted the justice division's model to the Australian Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee yesterday, showing how programs invented in the North West could save State Governments millions of dollars.
The division analysed 130 Indigenous clients who worked with NWQICSS to stop the incarceration cycle in their community and found the strategies saved Queensland tax payers $13 million over five years.
Fr Lowcock said the report released by the government showing the 'perceived failure' of the Murri Court was flawed because there was no contact with Mount Isa's Murri Court people.
"This report was based only on statistics, without taking into consideration the fact that no-one actually served a custodial sentence," he said. "To have an effective program in supporting clients in Mount Isa through the court processes, is to engage in a community-based model with an extensive wrap around service, which we are able to provide.
"Most issues are not court related, yet end up in court because no action is taken to help clients to discover the root causes of their lifestyle which leads to incarceration."
NWQICSS' submission was heard by the Senate in Perth yesterday, along with the evidence from the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples to lobby federal and state government to shift spending away from locking up offenders to community-based programs focused on prevention and early intervention.