A Custody Notification Scheme is a 24-hour legal advice and support telephone hotline for any Indigenous Australian person brought into custody, connecting them with lawyers from the Aboriginallegal service operating in their state or territory. It is intended to reduce the high number of Aboriginal deaths in custody by counteracting the effects of institutional racism. Legislation mandating the police to inform the legal service whenever an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person is brought into custody is seen as essential to ensure compliance and a clear record of events. Where Custody Notification Schemes have been implemented, there have been reductions in the numbers of Aboriginal deaths in custody. The implementation of a CNS in all Australian states and territories was recommendation no. 224 of the 339 recommendations of the 1991 Australian Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report, but by 2018, only the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales had such a service mandated by legislation. Many of the other states have followed, since the offer of three years of funding by the federal government in October 2016., only Queensland and Tasmania do not have a legislated CNS in place.
Most states and territories did not comply with the CNS recommendation for decades. About 340 Aboriginal people died in custody between the recommendation being made in 1991 and 2015. Between 1991 and 2019, over 400 Aboriginal people have died in custody. In October 2016, the then federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, said that federal funding would be provided for the first three years of a CNS service after a state had introduced the necessary legislation. In October 2017, the federal government again urged states and territories to implement a CNS. , Queensland and Tasmania had not yet introduced a legislated CNS.
2000: ACT & NSW
The CNS serving the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales was established in 2000, allowing access to a lawyer through the Aboriginal Legal Service. It is mandated under NSW law that officers must inform the CNS, but not in ACT. The service has been successful and has since been cited as a model. In 2016, one Aboriginal person died in custody in NSW; this was the first time an Aboriginal person had died in custody in NSW or the ACT since the CNSs were implemented. Police failed to notify the CNS, rather than there being any problem with the service itself.
In 2018, the Northern Territory agreed to implement a CNS. The system attracted criticism for exempting protective custody and paperless arrests; for such arrests, police are not required to notify the CNS. There had previously been deaths in NT following exempted types of arrests. There are reports that the CNS legislation was substantially drafted by the police.
In May 2016, a report recommended that Western Australia stop jailing people for unpaid fines. The report mentioned the death of Ms Dhu. The report was authored by Neil Morgan, Inspector of Custodial Services. The Western Australian government rejected the federal government's offer. In March 2017, Dhu's family criticised both the major political parties in Western Australia for not supporting such a scheme. The incumbent Liberal Party voiced their opposition to the program, while the Labor Party said they would consider the scheme though had made no commitments. Attorney-General of Western Australia, John Quigley, supported such a program, saying "I think it life-saving legislation. I'm sure if they took the late Ms Dhu into custody... if the Aboriginal Legal Service been contacted on day one it would have been a very different outcome". An online petition calling for the scheme was signed by almost 20,000 people in less than one week. On 21 May 2018, it was announced that the WA state government had reconsidered the offer from the federal government to fund a CNS, and that the service would be operational by the end of the year. The Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia would operate the service. Funding negotiations held up the establishment of the service. In November 2018 it was announced the service would be operational in the first half of 2019. The service would cost $952,000 per year, with the Federal Government and State Government contributing $750,000 and $202,000 respectively. ALSWA would employ five lawyers and two support staff to run the service. The ALSWA commenced its CNS service on 2 October 2019. Under the Police Force Amendment Regulations 2019, Western Australia Police will be required to phone the CNS every time an Aboriginal person, child or adult, is detained in a police facility, regardless of the reason.
June 2020: Victoria
had some non-legislative CNS-like requirements in Victoria Police Manual’s instruction 113-1, with notifications are known as known as E* Justice Notifications. In 2018 a proposed law was being reviewed by the Victorian legislature. On 13 June 2020 it was announced that the federal government would fund the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, which already provided an informal version, to deliver an expanded CNS service, after the Parliament of Victoria had passed new legislation. $2.1 million would be provided over three years to establish the service.
On 1 July 2020, the Attorney-General of South Australia, Vickie Chapman, announced that the state government would implement a formal CNS, after Aboriginal Affairs Labor spokesperson Kyam Maher had written to Premier Steven Marshall in June saying that he would introduce a Bill to parliament to legally mandate the service. This would legally require SAPOL to notify the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement when an Aboriginal person enters custody. This had been done informally for some time, but the legal requirement would "help to ensure Aboriginal people receive culturally appropriate wellbeing support and basic legal advice as soon as possible after being taken into custody". Mandating the measure would also mean that if an officer refuses or fails to comply, they "may be subject to disciplinary proceedings" under the Police Complaints and Discipline Act 2016. The move was welcomed by ALRM, which had been lobbying for it for years.
