AN URGENT call from indigenous communities to implement recommendations from an ACT child protection system report will be addressed ahead of the latest territory budget.

Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services had expressed “deep concern” over ACT rates of incarceration of indigenous children and teenagers last month following the release of the Productivity Commission’s report on government services.

The ACT government will respond by announcing $4.9 million on Tuesday towards such concerns following a five-year high in the number of incarcerations in police custody.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in Canberra spent a combined 1877 nights in custody through 2019-20 in comparison to 1073 nights the previous year.

The over-representation that nearly doubled 12 months on was the highest since 2014-15.

Labor pledged $20 million to a healing and reconciliation fund over 10 years during last year’s election on returning to government.

Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Rachel Stephen-Smith, said the government will continue working to implement the recommendations of the Our Booris, Our Way findings to “improve the experience” of Aboriginal and Torres Strait children and families in the child and youth protection system.

There was no direct mention of cutting down the frequency of nights in custody, but instead improving frontline services, building cultural expertise in child and youth protection services and continuing work to establish Aboriginal community-controlled organisations in the child and family services sector.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr added: “We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations have the answers and we must work with them and empower them to close the gap in health, wellbeing, and economic outcomes.”

ACT Council of Social Service welcomed the “long overdue funding announcement” to also address the government’s commitment to Closing the Gap partnership.

To deliver on the priorities identified through the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement 2019-2028, another $1.6 million was allocated to strengthen support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families across not only child protection but also housing and other support relating to domestic family violence responses.

A further $425,000 was injected towards delivering a new purpose-built facility for the Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation.

“We welcome this funding, but it’s long overdue,” ACTCOSS chief executive Dr Emma Campbell said.

“The ACT has some of the worst statistics when it comes to outcomes for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander families and children.

Ms Campbell said these issues should have been addressed long before reports indicated the steep rises in number of Indigenous youth, especially young people in out-of-home care, in jeopardy.

The rate of children in the ACT in care for 2019-20 was more than 72 per 1,000 children that were aged from 0-17 years – fourteen times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous children and well above the national rate.

“The ROGS data also showed that the ACT has some of the lowest levels of spending on family and child supports of any jurisdiction in Australia,” she said.

“Canberra’s first nations communities and organisations have long been calling on the ACT government to implement the Our Booris, Our Way review recommendations.

“Some recommendations are nearly three years old and have still not been implemented.

“However, we are yet to see details of exactly how this money will be spent.

“It is important that priority is given to investment in frontline services, in particular Aboriginal community-controlled organisations.

“It must not be spent on unnecessary administration and bureaucracy.”