Youth at the centre.

Jesuit Social Services and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) were pleased to host the 5th National Justice Symposium on 28 July 2021. 

Thirty years on from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and five years since the announcement of the Royal Commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory, First Nations children and young people remain overrepresented at all points in the Australian justice system.

Centring the voices and stories of First Nations young people and their communities, the 5th National Justice Symposium explored the ingredients for change, from the grassroots to the system level.

The day included a series of keynotes and panel discussions, including conversations with young people, conversations with Elders, a focus on system reform, case studies of good practice, and finally, a look at the power of storytelling and community action.

Watch highlights from the Symposium below. To see the full session videos, click here.

The host organisations

Jesuit Social Services is a social change organisation that for over 40 years has worked to build a just society where all people can live to their full potential.

We partner with community to support those most in need.

We work to change policies, practices, ideas and values that perpetuate inequality, prejudice and exclusion.

Although the roots of the organisation are in the criminal justice space, we have since grown to work across a diverse spectrum of need, including mental health and wellbeing, education, training and employment, settlement and community building, family violence, and ecological justice, with a presence in Victoria, NSW and the NT.

Our work in the Northern Territory commenced more than a decade ago, at the invitation of the community of Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), assisting with the establishment of Atyenhenge Atherre Aboriginal Corporation (AAAC) and we are proud to see AAAC flourishing.

Since then, we have maintained our connection to Ltyentye Apurte and other Eastern Arrernte communities and community in Wadeye, and our work has grown to include the delivery of youth justice programs, including Youth Justice Group Conferencing in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, the Back on Track program in Katherine, and youth diversion in partnership with The Gap Youth and Community Centre in Alice Springs.

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) delivers high quality and culturally competent legal services to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

In addition to our core legal practice in criminal and civil law, we provide law and justice related services that aim to ensure that Aboriginal people have real access to justice. NAAJA is contracted by the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department (AGD) and National Indigenous Australian Agency (NIAA) to provide the following services to Aboriginal people and their families in the Northern Territory:

• Criminal Law

• Civil & Family Law

• Law & Justice

• Community Legal Education

• Night Patrol Community Legal Education

• Indigenous Prisoner Throughcare

• Kungas Program

• Custody Notification Service (CNS)

With a team of over 160 staff across the Northern Territory, together we bring a wealth of experience in the fields of Criminal, Civil, Law & Justice, Community Legal Education and Indigenous Prisoner Throughcare.