Judge sees path to dry lives without crime
01.09.2009



By: TONY KOCH


CONTROLS imposed by government on alcohol consumption
in indigenous communities in Queensland have been the single most important reason why crime has decreased markedly and the lives of women and children have improved, according to District Court judge Michael Forde, who retired last week.
Mr Forde, 60, who spent 15 years on the bench and presided over 420 jury trials, was the circuit judge for Mt Isa and the Gulf of Carpentaria communities of Mornington Island, Doomadgee, Normanton and Burketown for four years from 2002.
He kept statistics of the offences that came before him.
They revealed that since alcohol restrictions were introduced in Doomadgee and on Mornington Island in 2003, crimes of violence had decreased by up to 50 per cent each year.
But Mr Forde's strongest message is about the need to provide health therapists as permanent employees in remote communities, as well as social workers, so that people with problems have someone to turn to.
``It costs around $80,000 a year to keep a prisoner in jail in Queensland, and from most indigenous communities there are a score or more who are in the prison system,'' he said.
``Yet for the cost of the wages of those necessary workers, much of that money could be saved ... and there are the obvious humanitarian saving where assaults and associated criminal activity could be avoided. There is also a need for government to properly fund and train the community justice groups if that system is going to be effective.''
Mr Forde has a special place in Queensland history for his efforts as a barrister in 1988 when, briefed by the Labor Party, he cross-examined former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen at the Fitzgerald inquiry into police and political corruption.
He asked Sir Joh what he understood by the doctrine of the separation of powers under the Westminster system. Sir Joh said he did not understand what he was talking about, saying: ``I don't know which doctrine you refer to.''
Mr Forde replied: ``There is only one doctrine of the separation of powers.''
He said he was heartened by the improvement he noticed in crime rates in indigenous communities, but felt little had really improved in the lives of the people who lived there. ``Lots of money has been ploughed into programs but my view is that there seldom seems to be any evaluation of outcomes. There is no ongoing assessment, for instance, of programs concerning alcohol control, drug abuse, domestic violence and child abuse.''
The lack of jobs, coupled with the lack of education to enable an indigenous person to go out and seek meaningful work, was a major factor that led to a life of crime, he said.
``I have seen thousands of criminal history documents and there is a common theme which adds up to `the accused'. Those commonalities are unemployment, a first appearance in court for possession or use of a drug, then further drug offences -- and the result is predictable. My firm view is that Aboriginal male elders have let their communities down in many ways, particularly by the example they give. It is the women who have accepted responsibility for the future.
``I found it was always the women who did the work and took the rational approach when they were on the community justice groups, and in most cases the men were not productive.''
The saddest case Mr Forde said he saw in his time as a judge was a couple living together at Doomadgee. ``The male was affected by alcohol and he assaulted his female partner, resulting in her sustaining among other injuries a broken rib, so he was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm.
``The next time he came before my court, he had hit her, causing serious lacerations and so on.
``Then the next time it was grievous bodily harm because he assaulted this poor woman so badly that she sustained brain damage. Yet she was sitting in the back of the court and wanted him back. He went to prison, but you have to think that this was obviously a man who needed help with controlling a drinking problem that led him to violence.
``There has to be a system introduced where the appropriate professionals are available to help these people so that end results like this can be avoided,'' he said.
``As a society, we have to listen to what indigenous leaders like Noel Pearson promote as solutions. Noel thinks outside the square, talks positively about employment opportunities run by indigenous people; accepting responsibility for their own actions; and not remaining reliant on handouts from government.
``The community development employment program was just a facade.
``Noel is talking about meaningful employment, training indigenous people to do their own jobs, and that obviously makes sense, and in my view is a system that should be supported.''
Mr Forde said the most startling fact in the court system now was that about 80per cent of all cases heard in the District Court involved sexual abuse or sex crimes.
In his retirement, Mr Forde is to be an adviser on probity, particularly to government in developing countries.