An Indigenous perspective to sentencing

Bob Colless is the only Indigenous member of Queensland's first Sentencing Advisory Council — and he’s acutely aware of the burden of his responsibility.

The council's job is to give the general community a stronger voice on sentencing issues, and Bob says he will rely heavily on the counsel of Elders to guide him.

One of his big concerns is the numbers of Indigenous people on the wrong end of the law.

"You look at the population of Queensland, it’s about 4.8 per cent Indigenous and yet we make up something like 28 per cent of the prison population," he said.

"It’s a real worry … it really is.

"I am little concerned about being the only Indigenous person (on the council) but I'm a bit of a bull terrier and I like to get my teeth into an issue and I'll do my best on it to represent all my people.

"I’m very fortunate — I work with Gumba Gumba, which is a council of Elders in far north Queensland. I'm able to hear what the community in my area is having to say. Our culture, our Elders — their voice must be heard."

Bob, of Cairns, has a long-standing involvement in Indigenous justice affairs. He is a member of the Cairns Community Justice Group, which has ties to the local Murri Court. He is the manager of Gumba Gumba, which developed an Elders’ visitation program for Indigenous prisoners and runs a transport service for families to visit inmates.

Bob sees his new role on the Sentencing Advisory Council as being a bridge between ordinary people and the whole sentencing system.

"I think we're going to be very effective in bringing the awareness of the issues with sentencing, particularly to the minority groups who maybe have more interest in sentencing — whether it’s a person with a disability, or it’s a female or Indigenous," he said.

"For me, that's the big emphasis — getting the message out to the community."

Bob says he is researching as far and wide as he can, from speaking to prisoners at Lotus Glen Correctional Centre near Mareeba to consulting district court prosecutors in Cairns.

He is also examining the work of New South Wales' Sentencing Advisory Council. "It has very similar Indigenous areas of concern. I think we can learn quite a bit from the NSW model," he said.

The state government appointed the 12-member Queensland council in December. It is chaired by Professor Geraldine Mackenzie, Dean of Bond University's Faculty of Law, and includes victim advocates Beryl Crosby, Jonty Bush and Christy McGuire, Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson and Director of Public Prosecutions Tony Moynihan. They will serve for three years.

The council's first task is to make recommendations about whether standard minimum non-parole periods should be set for some serious crimes.