A SEA of 5000 plastic hands sprouted in Brisbane’s King George Square on October 2 to focus renewed attention on the continuing high rate of indigenous incarceration in Queensland.
Director of Griffith University’s Gumurri Centre, Associate Professor Boni Robertson, told an associated public meeting in Brisbane City Hall on October 3 that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are still jailed at 14 times the rate of non-indigenous Queenslanders.
‘This is largely unchanged since the 1991 royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody,’ she said.
‘A major pathway for indigenous people into the criminal justice system is relatively minor offences such as disorderly behaviour, indecent language, use of abusive or insulting words, insufficient lawful means of support, begging and habitual drunkenness, under the Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act.
‘Many indigenous people are imprisoned for relatively minor offences because poverty means they cannot pay the fines.
‘The State Government could make a significant difference by removing these offences from the replacement Summary Offences Bill, which is in preparation.’
Maggi Barszczyk of Australians for Native Title and Reconcilation (ANTAR), who co-ordinated the sea of hands, said they were symbolically outstretched in greeting and reconciliation, as well as symbolising hands raised for justice.
