Across Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities continue to feel the impacts of colonisation and racism in everyday life. They show up in poorer health, housing, education, family, and justice outcomes — often overlapping and compounding over time.
When disadvantage goes unaddressed, the harm only deepens. One of the clearest examples of this is the youth incarceration gap.
Missing the childhood they deserve
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are far more likely to experience youth incarceration than other children in Australia. This is the result of layers of disadvantage, ineffective support, and systems that continue to fail them.
Many have had challenges no person, let alone a child, should ever have to face. These include domestic violence, poverty, housing instability, racism, or being removed from their family.
When support is missing, children are left to cope on their own. This can lead to disengagement or rule‑breaking — behaviours our systems are quick to respond to. Too often, the response stops there, without addressing the intergenerational trauma and unmet needs underneath.
Disconnection from culture, Country and Community makes things even harder. It weakens identity, belonging and guidance, and pushes First Nations children onto paths they never chose.
Once they enter the youth justice system, the consequences can last a lifetime. Detention disrupts education, harms social and emotional wellbeing and increases the likelihood of future run-ins with the law – creating a vicious cycle and widening the gaps we’re trying to close.
This is not how any childhood should look. Yet it remains, disproportionately, the reality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.
Community‑led solutions are the way forward
Despite decades of policy reform, the overincarceration of First Nations children continues. That tells us one thing: we’re not getting it right.
However, there is a path forward. When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities are listened to, respected and supported to lead, outcomes improve — not just in the justice system, but across all areas of wellbeing.
At Each, we’ve seen this first-hand through our Wantima (Rising Up) and Assisting Communities Through Direct Connection (ACDC - 2023) initiatives.
These programs focused on genuine engagement with First Nations peoples — meeting them where they were, whether by door knocking or hosting local barbecues, and creating space for honest conversations.
Across Communities, we heard deep concern for young people and the limited support available — both in preventing contact with the justice system and providing pathways out of it.
The Wantima initiative was guided by this. For example, staff supported First Nations people appearing in Murri Court in Ipswich, Queensland, helping to coordinate culturally appropriate care, reconnect them with family, and support their return to Country.
This changed lives, with 96% of supported defendants returning to the community. Annie, Head of First Nations Capability & Engagement, explained:
“When Community stands with Community, change becomes possible. Out of 25 people we supported through Wantima's Murri Court partnership, every single Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person engaged with services and moved toward a better path. Only one returned to prison on an existing warrant. Trust built in Community is powerful and it works.”
In December 2025, we made a submission to the Senate Committee Inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system, drawing on important learnings from Wantima and the ACDC project. With long‑term investment in initiatives like these, First Nations children and families would finally have access to the culturally safe support they need.
Closing the gap
The youth incarceration gap is just one example of what happens when supports are disconnected and ineffective. It’s so important we start getting this right.
This year’s National Close the Gap Day theme, ‘Community Voices: The Pathway to Justice, Equality and Healing’, reminds us that Community‑led, whole‑of‑person approaches are the key to meaningful change.
