Caught in the door of the law

I've been lost in action for the past week. Caught in the door of the law.

Let me explain. I've recently had to do an assignment for uni, and being the good little Westerner I am, wanted to make it something (as Pooh Bear would say) Useful-ish and Somewhat Helpful.

So rather than pursing topics of particular interest to me, I asked those in the know to nominate a topic that needed some advocacy. Basically free consultancy for the region.

My topic: reducing the impact of motor driver's suspensions and disqualification, by court order and fines enforcement, on rates of secondary offending and ultimately imprisonment.

Having got my topic, and indulging in a moment of lost confidence, I went back and asked for the #2 priority. Appeals of decisions of the magistrates courts by the DPP. That wasn't much more confidence building. So I sighed deeply and being a very good Eeyore (now) decided to Commit to the Task at Hand.

And as it turned out, the topic wasn't half interesting. It was pretty damn fascinating. Did you know that Western Australia has the highest rate of imprisonment of Aboriginal people in Australia? More than 26.5 times that of non-Indigenous people in the State. That's extreme.

Of Aboriginal prisoners, approximately half are in prison for driving offences, including offences that stem from having their licence suspended because they have defaulted on fines.

Fines like failing to vote in the last election. Failing to hand in number plates on a car after it ceases to be registered. Failing to transfer a vehicle registration. Failing to wear seatbelts.

Rego: employer. Licence & car seat: cashed up employees

Of the Aboriginal women in prison, approximately 3/4 are in prison for offences related to driving and fines suspension.

The Chief Justice of WA has called this issue the 'revolving door' of justice for Aboriginal people. 

And as happens, those with the least capacity to pay and the most need to drive fall foul of the law. Penalised by the system, and how it chooses (or not) to exercise discretion.

Fundamentally, just because a policy or a law makes sense in metropolitan Perth and the south-east, that does not make it substantively fair when it applies to a tiny number of people in remote communities.

The obligation should be on governments and departments to explore systemic alternatives. Yet report after report, parliamentary debate after debate, shows knowledge of the problem but a commitment only to drilling down to more effective means of enabling payment. Not re-assessing the system.

It couldn't possible be the system at fault. Could it?