Submissions Library

Dr Tamar Hopkins has been working in the area of police accountability and racism since 2005. She was the founding lawyer of the Police Accountability Project at Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre in Melbourne Australia in 2009.

This submission is Dr Hopkins’ PhD Doctorate Thesis submitted in 2022, entitled “Understanding Racial Profiling in Australia.” Drawing on the conceptualisation developed by Epp, Maynard-Moody and Haider-Markel that racial profiling is the disproportionate use of unjustified police power against racial and ethnic minorities, this thesis asks: does racial profiling exist in Australia? Dr Hopkins then develop three methodologies to answer this question.

The submission is published by UNSW and available at http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/100713.

Dr Tamar Hopkins has been working in the area of police accountability and racism since 2005. She was the founding lawyer of the Police Accountability Project at Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre in Melbourne Australia in 2009.

This submission is a report by the Police Stop Data Working Group. Dr Hopkins was the primary researcher and author of the report, which examines eight key practical issues involved in the implementation of a racial profiling data collection scheme in Victoria, Australia and makes 20 recommendations.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) is responsible for preventing and exposing public sector corruption and police misconduct.

This submission provides contextual information about IBAC’s role and purpose and Victoria’s police oversight framework; some of the key resources that guide IBAC’s decision-making and processes in providing oversight of the public sector, including Victoria Police; and explains IBAC’s integrity and oversight functions, including its role, functions and powers relating to police oversight. In setting out Victoria’s police oversight framework, this submission also explains some of the key differences and similarities between IBAC and the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland. This submission contains information about the steps already taken, and to be taken, on IBAC’s actions to improve and change IBAC’s response to complaints from Aboriginal Victorians about public sector corruption and police misconduct.

This submission offers a Whole of Government response to the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s two Issues Papers on systemic injustice experienced by First Peoples in the Victorian criminal justice and child protection systems.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission is an independent statutory authority with functions under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). The role of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission is to protect human rights, to promote fair treatment for all Victorians, and advocate for a diverse and inclusive state.

This submission provides an overview of the current situation in Victoria with respect to protections against race discrimination by public authorities, under the Equal Opportunities Act. The submission then provides a summary of existing protections against race discrimination by public authorities across other Australian jurisdictions. The submission concludes that should Victoria seek to strengthen protections against race discrimination by public authorities under the Equal Opportunities Act, there are appropriate models for reform we may look to within Australia.

Westjustice is a community legal centre that provides free legal and financial advice, representation, education, community development, advocacy, and policy advocacy in the Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay, Wyndham, Brimbank and Melton Local Government Areas.

This submission examines problems and solutions, and proposes reccomendations to issues to related to systemic injustices and cyclic disadvantage; and policing, youth and criminal Justice, incarceration, detention, and the broader legal system.

The Koorie Youth Council is the representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people residing in the state of Victoria.

This submission focuses on the systemic injustices experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people who are involved with – or have been impacted by – the criminal justice system and child protection system in the state of Victoria, both historically and contemporarily.

Catholic Social Service Victoria is the peak body for 42 social and community service member organisations that work throughout Victoria.

This submission draws attention to examples of good practice that could be adopted or expanded to address systemic injustice in the youth and criminal justice systems. It also identifies critical recommendations which have not been accepted or properly implemented in Victoria, which would address issues in the youth justice system.

VACRO is an independent, non-profit organisation created in 1872. It supports people in contact with the criminal justice system and their families to create new beginnings and stronger communities.

This submission outlines the post-release and reintegration needs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that VACRO supports, and the barriers they face to accessing or fulfilling those needs.

The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency is the lead Aboriginal child and family support organisation in Australia and the largest provider of Aboriginal family violence, justice support and homelessness services in Victoria.

“This submission is an attempt to synthesise an evidence-based narrative of the learnings and experiences our clients have shared with us over the history of our organisation. The desired outcome of all the recommendations we make within this submission is the self-determination of Aboriginal Victorians. While our evidence documents difficult truths and facts of historical, contemporary and emerging issues within Victoria’s child protection and justice systems; we also provide evidence and data on what works for Aboriginal Victorians now and into the future.”