Inquiry History
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody was
established in October 1987. The Final Report of the Royal
Commission was released in April 1991. It contained 339
recommendations covering a wide range of issues including measures
to divert people from custody, strategies to address alcohol and
substance abuse, self-determination, police-Aboriginal relations
and improving the criminal justice system. The National
Report comprised five volumes and was accompanied by a series
of volumes of regional reports. There were also 99 individual death
reports.
The state, territory and federal governments responded to the
Royal Commission's report in March 1992 and outlined the steps to
be taken to implement the recommendations accepted by the
governments. The response by governments was developed by a Joint
Ministerial Forum of Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers
with responsibility for responding to the Report of the Royal
Commission. [Note: A response from Tasmania was not included in the
initial response by governments as it was unavailable at the
time].
In October 1992 the Commonwealth Government published
Response to the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into
Aboriginal Deaths in Custody – Commonwealth Funded
Initiatives. This booklet outlined the specific program
allocations, the responsible Government agencies and the actions
which had been taken and which were planned to implement the
responses to the Royal Commission's recommendations. The booklet
detailed the amounts of money to be provided in each financial year
from 1992/93 to 1996/97 to implement the recommendations of the
Royal Commission. It is not clear whether implementing the
recommendations will continue to be funded and monitored once the
five year period has elapsed.
The Implementation of Commonwealth Government Responses to
the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths
in Custody – 1992-93 Interim Reportwas released in
September 1993. The Interim Report was the first step in
documenting progress made by the Commonwealth Government in
implementing its responses to the Royal Commission recommendations.
Since then, annual implementation reports of the Commonwealth,
state and territory governments have been prepared (although they
are sometimes very late). The state and territory reports have been
tabled in the Federal Parliament following their tabling in the
respective state and territory parliaments. The Commonwealth
reports have been referred to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Affairs Committee for examination by the relevant Minister
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.
The first complete Commonwealth report on implementation was
tabled in the Parliament in March 1994. In December 1994 the
Committee tabled its report on the examination of the Commonwealth
report. It focussed on broad issues of diversion from custody.
Since then the Commonwealth has tabled two more reports on the
Implementation of the Commonwealth Government responses to the
Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in
Custody. The first covered 1994-95 and the second 1995-96. The
Committee did not have time to conduct a thorough examination of
the 1994-95 implementation report (tabled in June 1996) because of
its other commitments. The 1995-96 implementation report was tabled
in early 1997 and the fifth 1996-97 implementation report was
tabled in November 1997.
Terms of reference
There are no formal terms of reference for the Committee's
inquiry into the 1995-96 implementation report. Recommendation 1 of
the Royal Commission report addressed ongoing monitoring of, and
reporting on, implementation of the recommendations. In the
Commonwealth Government's response to Recommendation 1 there was an
undertaking to establish a Standing Group of representatives of all
departments with responsibilities for implementing recommendations
of the Royal Commission. The group was to coordinate preparation of
an Annual Statement to be tabled in Parliament by the Minister for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. The statement was to
be considered by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on
Aboriginal Affairs (since renamed the HOR Standing Committee on
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.) [RCIADIC 1995-96
Report, p. 84]
The referral of the statement in response to Recommendation 1
has been extended to referral of the annual implementation report.
The Minister, Senator the Hon John Herron included the following in
his foreword to the last three annual implementation report:
In accordance with the undertaking given by the Commonwealth
in its response to Recommendation 1 of the Royal Commission, I
refer this report for consideration to the House of Representatives
Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Affairs.
Status of the inquiry
The Committee expects to release a statement on how it intents
to review these reports in March 1998.