Aboriginal Justice Forum 49, December 2017. (L-R) Stan Winford, Michael Bell, Simone Spencer, Christa Momot, Bronwyn Naylor, Naomi Murphy and Wenzel Carter with Greg Wilson, Secretary of the Department of Justice and Regulation
The Criminal Record Discrimination Project (CRDP) was a Woor-Dungin and Aboriginal-led collaboration driven by an Advisory Committee with over 50 members convened by Michael Bell, CEO of Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation and Christa Momot, former CEO and founding member of Woor-Dungin.
It sought to achieve the following reforms:
-
The introduction of a legislated spent convictions scheme in Victoria, and
-
An amendment to the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) to prohibit discrimination against people with an irrelevant criminal record.
In February 2016 Woor-Dungin began gathering stories of how discrimination on the basis of a criminal record affected Aboriginal people. The story of Uncle Larry Walsh which received significant media attention, highlighted a standard practice until 1989 for children to get a police record for being removed from their family.
In April 2017 Woor-Dungin hosted a consultation with community members and legal stakeholders, including a panel of experts from Monash University , RMIT University, (particularly Stan Winford and Bronwyn Naylor) and the law firms Ashurst and Colin Biggers & Paisley on what spent convictions legislation and protection from discrimination on the basis of irrelevant records should look like. A position paper, along with 11 case-studies was submitted to the statewide Aboriginal Justice Forum held in Swan Hill, Victoria, on 12–13 December 2017.
The Changes
On 8 March, 2018, the Victorian Government tabled a letter in Parliament which included a formal apology to the victims of the previous policy and ensuring children taken into care are never again given criminal records. The Spent Convictions Act 2021 passed the Victorian Parliament on 18 March 2021.
We acknowledge the funding provided by the Myer Foundation, the Williams Fund sub-fund of the Australian Communities Foundation, the Victoria Law Foundation, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Tarwirri and the Law Institute of Victoria.
Moving Forward
Rethinking Criminal Record Checks
Building on earlier successful work addressing this issue, the Rethinking Criminal Records project will educate employers and job seekers about their rights and obligations in disclosing criminal history.
The Rethinking Criminal Record Checks (RCRC) project is being carried out by RMIT University in partnership with Woor-Dungin, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (VACCHO) and Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation and is funded by the Victorian Legal Services Board.
The RCRC project has established a Reference Committee made up of Aboriginal community leaders and representatives of key Aboriginal organisations which will provide advice, guidance and feedback to support the delivery of the project.