Hosted by the Swinburne Law School and the Moondani Toombadool Centre

The criminal justice system imposes a disproportionate burden on Indigenous Australians.

The large number of Indigenous deaths in custody, the gross over-representation of Indigenous people in prisons and the over-policing of Indigenous communities is the greatest human rights crisis in Australia.

The Black Lives Matters movement has brought this to the forefront of the national psyche. The webinar will propose a number of solutions to this crisis.

The panel discussion will Chaired by Professor Andrew Gunstone, Executive Director Reconciliation Strategy and Leadership and Executive Director Moondani Toombadool Centre Swinburne University of Technology

Our panellists are:

Professor Mirko Bagaric, Dean of Swinburne Law School. Professor Bagaric is an internationally renowned expert in punishment and sentencing. Professor Bagaric is the author or co-author of over 30 books and 150 articles which have been published (or accepted for publication) in leading Australian and international journals. He has written extensively on measures which should be taken to reduce Indigenous incarceration numbers....More information

Joshua Creamer, Barrister-at-law, is Waanyi and Kalkadoon and has a national practice which specialises in class actions and native title. He has appeared in two landmark class actions, Wotton v State of Queensland (the Palm Island Case), Australia’s largest racial discrimination case and Pearson v State of Queensland (Stolen Wages QLD), Australia’s largest human rights case. In 2017 Joshua was appointed to the Board of Legal Aid Queensland. He is ranked in Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific and Doyle’s Guide for his work in the native title jurisdiction, is one of the founders of wrk.com.au and in 2020 he was appointed to the Griffith University Council...More information

Dr Gracelyn Smallwood OAM, National Indigenous Postvention Advocate, is a Birrigubba, Kalkadoon, SouthSea Islander woman who completed her general nursing, midwifery and psychiatric nursing training and has worked in remote communities in Alice Springs, Palm Island, remote Western Australia and South Australia over many years as a volunteer nurse, a registered midwife and a nurse with the late Dr Fred Hollows. She was the first Indigenous Australian to receive a Masters of Science in Public Health for her work on HIV education in North Queensland Indigenous communities, and completed her PhD Human Rights and First Australians Well-being in 2011...More information

Nerita Waight, CEO, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, is a Yorta Yorta woman and the Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS). Nerita began her career in the public service before commencing work at VALS in 2014 to undertake both legal and policy work. As the CEO, Nerita is focused on developing innovative solutions to ensure that VALS provides legal and community justice supports at the earliest point and in a culturally safe and caring way...More information

Dr Justin Trounson,PhD (Clinical Psychology) MAPS, is a practicing clinical psychologist, researcher and lecturer at the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science. In 2017, Justin was awarded the Inaugural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research fellowship at Swinburne University. He has worked as a clinician within maximum-security correctional facilities in Australia and has conducted numerous forensic and clinical psychology research projects...More Information.