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MARANGUKA JUSTICE REINVESTMENT ALISTAIR FERGUSON AND JENNY LOVRIC Alistair Ferguson, Executive Director and Founder, Maranguka Justice Reinvestment in Bourke. Jenny Lovric, Manager Community Engagement, Just Reinvest NSW
WHAT IS JUSTICE REINVESTMENT AND MARANGUKA?
Evidence shows strategic community-driven investment in localised early support, prevention and diversionary solutions can reduce crime, build local capacity and strengthen local communities. If there’s less crime, there’s less imprisonment. By addressing the underlying causes of crime, savings on criminal justice costs are available to be reinvested in strategies that strengthen communities and prevent crime. In 2013, the Bourke community in north-west New South Wales partnered with Just Reinvest NSW to develop a ‘proof of concept’ for justice reinvestment in Australia. Maranguka – meaning ‘caring for others’ in the Ngemba language – is a model of Indigenous self-governance guided by the Bourke Tribal Council. Formed by a coalition of organisations and individuals, Just Reinvest NSW has been exploring justice reinvestment in NSW as a data-driven, place-based and community-led approach to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children and young people in prison. Maranguka Justice Reinvestment has developed a whole-of-community and life course approach to
its work, which is expressed in the community strategy for change Growing our Kids up Safe, Smart & Strong (Safe, Smart & Strong). The work is an ecosystem of collaboration, with the Bourke Tribal Council at the centre, authorising the onthe-ground work designed by the community. According to Alistair Ferguson, Founder and Executive Director of Maranguka Justice Reinvestment in Bourke, Maranguka’s success to date has been a result of the Bourke Tribal Council applying and asserting its cultural authority across the whole system, providing real definition and substance to concepts and government-led initiatives including Closing the Gap and NSW Aboriginal Affairs’ Local Decision-Making. MULTI-PRONGED AND COLLABORATIVE RESPONSE TO DOMESTIC AND FAMILY VIOLENCE For many years the Bourke community struggled with the perception that the town was dominated by justice and social issues. Bureaucratic data showed significantly high rates in domestic and family violence. In 2013, domestic assault was 14 times the NSW average and long-term unemployment was high. Bourke wanted to re-introduce a different way of doing business. According to Alistair “The concept of Maranguka is 65,000 years old and it still holds the same meaning today within a contemporary context. This is a genuine partnership with everyone and we value them in the process.”
