Vote Compass: Australians support action on Indigenous imprisonment rates

Updated

Two-thirds of Australians would like to see the federal government commit to reducing the rates of Indigenous people in prison, Vote Compass data suggests.

Indigenous Australians are 15 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous people.

The Vote Compass results, based on weighted data of around 10,000 responses, show a majority of Australians would support a government commitment to change that.

The government's Closing the Gap initiative — which sets targets to improve the social and economic conditions of Indigenous Australians — does not include a target on incarceration.

The Coalition has said it is an issue for the states and territories, although Labor has promised to set a target if elected.

Mervyn Eades was in and out of prison in Western Australia from his teens until his early thirties.

"I've been out for 14 years now and in the last two years I've developed and designed [charity group] Ngalla Maya, where I create employment opportunities for our brothers and sisters getting out of the prison system in WA," Mr Eades said.

His charity, Ngalla Maya, trains young Aboriginal adults in fields like construction and hospitality. It currently operates with no government funding.

"I went into a prison about seven weeks ago and saw three generations at once — a grandfather, his son, and the grandson — all in prison at the same time.

"I don't think the government's approach is working with our people … if we work hand in hand and together we can close that gap, it'll take a while but we can slowly do it."

The Vote Compass results also show about half the country would be happy to see more money spent to address Indigenous disadvantage overall.

These results are based on more than 10,000 respondents who participated in Vote Compass between May 14 and May 18, 2016. The data has been weighted to ensure the sample reflects the Australian population. [ Read the Vote Compass data FAQ ]

Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-policy, prisons-and-punishment, federal-election, federal-elections, federal-government, federal-parliament, australia

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