Review of the implementation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

In 2017, then Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator the Hon Nigel Scullion, commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to undertake an independent review of the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (the Royal Commission).

A landmark in the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, the 1991 report of the Royal Commission made 339 recommendations made up of 547 subparts across 26 themes. These ranged from providing safe, humane conditions in detention to supporting self-determination for Indigenous people. It concluded that, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody did not die at a greater rate than non-Indigenous people, there were a higher number of deaths due to their over-representation in the justice system. The fundamental causes of this over-representation were found to be dispersed across various systems that affect social and economic outcomes, leading to significant work by all governments to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

This review is now complete, with the key finding that across all levels of government:

• 78 per cent of recommendations have been fully or mostly implemented,
• 16 per cent partially implemented, and
• 6 per cent were not implemented.

The Commonwealth Government is pleased to release the final report of this independent review. We thank Deloitte Access Economics for the substantial work involved in preparing this report and acknowledge the significant input from all states and territories and many Commonwealth agencies.

The Report is provided here in several formats to provide interested stakeholders with early access to the Review. Work is underway to ensure a fully accessible version is provided in the coming weeks.