Communique - IMAC meeting 29 July 2024

We welcomed new member Natalie Merlehan. Natalie is a victim representative who has been working with Voice for Victims. She has a background in Criminology and is an advocate of restorative justice and justice system reform.

We started to scope our priority projects from our workplan. This includes the role we can play in developing a ‘victim navigator’ approach to guide victims through the criminal justice system, and how we can work with agencies to increase access to evidence-based interventions, programs and social supports for criminalised people.

We discussed the importance of meeting regionally and worked to finalise itineraries for our visit to Townsville at the end of August and Cherbourg in November.

We are looking forward to meeting with local organisations to hear about initiatives aimed at reducing crime as well as to discuss local challenges, particularly in relation to youth crime.

The final report of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (DRC) included recommendations that are relevant to our workplan.

Members have agreed to formally support recommendations 8.3 Prohibiting solitary confinement in youth detention; 8.4 Screening and Assessment for disability in youth detention and 8.22 Age of criminal responsibility.

We received a presentation from Mr Todd Fuller KC, Director of Public Prosecutions on the operation of the victim liaison service within the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

We discussed the recently released Queensland Government Audit Office’s report Reducing Serious Youth Crime, noting particular concerns about the 72-hour transition plans and the high lockdown rate occurring in Cleveland Youth Detention Centre.