The Wire

There’s a Closing the Gap target for employment, health and mortality rates. Now a new target for Indigenous justice reform will be developed under the Labor government. Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin says the target will tackle the high rates of Indigenous contact with the criminal justice system.

But some Aboriginal legal advocates are questioning whether a target is the right way to achieve real change. Some say the government must follow through with funding for specific programs that prevent Indigenous people from involvement with the criminal justice system in the first place.