South Australia's government will establish an advisory commission to work on lowering Aboriginal incarceration rates in the state.
The government allocated $500,000 in last week's state budget to the commission, which will be set up in the coming months.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 24 per cent of inmates in South Australia's prisons are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
The state's Attorney-General, Kyam Maher, who is Indigenous, said Aboriginal people in South Australia were 12 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Aboriginal people.
"We are not innately criminal people and, as a society, we need to do more about this."
The advisory committee would aim to make recommendations to reduce the disproportionately high rate of First Nations incarceration.
"We will look at ways and best practices right around the world to stop Aboriginal people constantly coming into contact with the justice system," Mr Maher said.
Mr Maher said he had been in discussions with Indigenous people in Canada and New Zealand about First Nations people and their contact with the justice system both in and out of prison.
Protecting the next generation
South Australia's Youth Parliament Governor Shania Richards said she felt hopeful, yet cautious, about the prospect of a commission into incarceration rates.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 58 per cent of young people in youth detention on an average night in 2021 in South Australia were Indigenous.
"It's one thing to chuck money at an issue but another thing if money becomes a tool to help solve that issue," she said.
Ms Richards said that, as an Aboriginal woman, sometimes she had fears of leaving her house alone for fear of somehow becoming incarcerated.
"Growing up it was common where I come from that if you are a blackfella, a man or a woman, if you leave your house there's always a chance you might come back in cuffs or not at all," she said.
Mr Maher said the commission would primarily focus on the state's adult prison population, but it would expect to touch on the First Nations youth incarceration numbers as well.
"Aboriginal young people are over-represented in the youth justice system as well," he said.
Ms Richards hoped that the establishment of the commission by South Australia's first Aboriginal Attorney-General would have lasting impacts on her generation and those who came before her.
"I would love to see something come in place to protect the next generation and to help those who have already been through what shouldn't have been so normalised," she said.
