SOCIAL REINVESTMENT WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Working together for an effective and connected approach to justice.
Who We Are
Social Reinvestment WA is a member based peak not for profit organisation, led by an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander majority Board. We aim to end the mass criminalisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Western Australia’s justice and legal systems; and to create a fair, humane, and more truly just Western Australia for all people.
We seek to create safer communities, support healthier families, and implement smarter justice approaches through: advocacy to decision makers; Policy development; Public campaigns; Support for local communities initiatives; Storytelling and amplifying the voices of lived experience people; And connect experts, practitioners, and community across the state to find better solutions for everyone
HoW We Began
Social Reinvestment WA began in 2014, after children at the Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre were sent to and held in Hakea, an adult prison in WA following a ‘riot’. While there were many individuals and families advocating for these young people, what became clear was there was no established, unified sector voice to speak up for these young people, and liaise with government to ensure humane treatment.
A small group of Aboriginal and Non-Profit leaders came together to talk not just about this incident, but in general the hugely disproportion incarceration rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in WA- which are the highest in the nation. Despite the efforts of community and advocacy groups, and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, these devastating statistics were only getting worse, with dire consequences for our community.
This group of leaders grew into a monthly working group of organisations, (at the time Reconciliation WA, Wungening Aboriginal Corporation, WACOSS, Aboriginal Legal Service WA, Oxfam, Outcare, Amnesty International, Bringing Them Home WA (Yokai), and First Nations Deaths in Custody Watch Committee) who together developed our name, vision and purpose, and chipped in funds to hire our first staff member.
Why We Exist
Our purpose is to end the systemic over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in WA’s justice system.
Our vision is for a transformation of WA’s justice systems build safer communities through prioritising the cultural, social and emotional wellbeing of families, using smart justice approaches such as justice reinvestment.
To move beyond a costly, punitive model of justice that oft fails to prevent, divert, or rehabilitate, and systemically discriminates; To an effective approach to justice that responds to the underlying root causes of offending, connected solutions that are led in partnership with communities, and produces better long term social and economic outcomes for individuals, families, and all Western Australians.
Our name Social Reinvestment WA means all of this, and is synonymous with the concept of justice reinvestment- redirecting resources from the punitive end of the justice system into early intervention and prevention, diversion, rehabilitation, and reintegration in the community.
But as a late Noongar Elder put it, ‘it cannot simply be about justice, to reduce incarceration, we need to work and invest across the whole social system- education, housing, mental health, alcohol and drugs.’
It’s not about achieving outcomes for any of our individual organisations.
It’s about coming together collectively, setting aside our individual priorities, and calling with one unified voice for change.
It’s time to close the justice gap, once and for all.