In 2013, Josephine was appointed by the Prime Minister to the Indigenous Advisory Council and Chair of its Safe Communities Committee. She sits on the Board of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. More recently Josephine was appointed as Secretary of the Board of Directors at Gadigal Information Service.

As a lawyer, Josephine worked for more than nine years in the Australian courts and has worked in consultancy and voluntary roles for a variety of private, public and non-profit sector organisations. Josephine recently spoke at a special session on violence against Indigenous women and children at the United Nation’s full Human Rights Council in Geneva and is widely acknowledged for her work at all levels of the community to help bring an end to violence.

The lecture is funded through donations, a small note at entry is appreciated. Please register here.

Abstract

The over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system nationally has been the subject of extensive documentation, criticism and concern since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991. In this address, I argue that the key to solving high levels of Indigenous imprisonment is through a focus on families and mothers. It is important to consider the drivers of offending behaviours including drug and alcohol abuse, poor school retention and performance, poor health, and unemployment. But more importantly, we must ask why so many children enter the criminal justice system and placed into care, and why Indigenous women are victimised at such high levels. We need to move away from the rationale that positive change will only come from the provision of services, such as parenting and other health programs. Such services are important, however, it is vital to ensure that every child and mother has a safe home and the same opportunities as every other Australian. Indigenous people will only achieve parity with other Australians through improved infrastructure, housing and community assets that remove the adverse health and social impacts of housing stress, remoteness, homelessness, and chronic overcrowding. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Mabo decision, it is now the right time to explore why Indigenous people are not able to use their land, assets and resources to create wealth and address the chronic social problems related to overcrowding and poverty.