JULIE TONGS laments some of the ‘concerning’ local revelations in the latest report on justice from the Productivity Commission.

The ACT has, on a pro-rata basis, the lowest number of operational police in Australia, according to the Productivity Commission’s recently released report on justice. This is deeply concerning.

The Commission has also reported that the ACT over the last two years has had by far the lowest level of Magistrates Court decisions resulting in a guilty outcome for defendants.

For example, in 2022-23 almost 40 per cent of cases before the ACT Magistrates Court resulted in a not-guilty outcome while in 2023-24 just over 30 per cent of cases were similarly dismissed. The average rate across the rest of Australia, in both years, of a finding of guilt was around 98 per cent.

A disparity of this order surely demands a detailed investigation into how or why ACT policing either got it wrong in charging the accused or, alternatively, why it was that the respective magistrates dismissed so many of the cases.

It would also be of interest to know how many of those who were charged with a criminal offence by ACT policing and had their case dismissed were of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage.

However, perhaps the most intriguing data set in the whole of this latest batch of Productivity Commission reports is that which details the level of prisoner employment in the AMC.

The Productivity Commission, as detailed below, reports that the AMC has the highest rate (90 per cent) of non-indigenous employment and the second highest rate (85 per cent) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island employment of any prison in the whole of Australia.

However, the Productivity Commission’s findings in relation to this issue have caused regular visitors to the AMC significant consternation in that the only “employment” that any of the regular visitors approached by Winnunga Nimmityjah in relation to the employment of detainees in the prison were able to identify included: sweeping the floor, loading the clothes washer, emptying the garbage bins and washing the dishes.

In light of this, it would be appreciated if Corrections ACT or the Productivity Commission would provide details of the employment that the identified 90 per cent plus of detainees are apparently engaged in including the length of time that they are so employed, on a daily basis.

A further issue of interest reported on by the Productivity Commission is the real net operating expenditure per prisoner and per offender per day, in 2024-25 dollars.

What the Commission has revealed is that the expenditure per prisoner per day in the ACT is the highest in Australia at $573.76 while the lowest is the NT at $225.68 followed by SA at $239.20 and Queensland at $295.84.

It would be interesting to better understand why, for example, it costs almost $300 more per day to imprison a person in Canberra than it does in say NSW or Queensland?

The Productivity Commission has also detailed the cost per offender per day across the whole of Australia which reveals that in the ACT the cost per day is $85.19 compared, for example, to a cost per offender per day in NSW of $22.59 and in Queensland of $26.51.

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