Bamaga Police Station have been jointly recognised in the Premier's Reconciliation Awards for their role on the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) Licensing Muster Initiative.
The awards coincide with National Reconciliation Week (May 27 – June 3), and are designed to honour initiatives that enhance cultural awareness and understanding, and those that improve the experiences of First Nations peoples in the community.
The station has worked in partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS Qld) and NPA Community Justice Group (CJG) to provide evidence-based and culturally sensitive support on licensing, registration and identity documents in relation to driving and vehicle-related offences.
The initiative has been running since 2019, and aims to reduce unnecessary contact between First Nations peoples and the criminal justice system, thus reducing the number of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples incarcerated in correctional facilities located over one thousand kilometres away from their communities.
The Muster was developed as a cost-effective approach to target the root causes of licensing and non-violent vehicle-related offending, including lack of identification documents required to apply for a driver license, lack of access to vehicles to practice driving, lack of access to computers and the internet, and cost of licenses.
The initiative provides communities in the NPA with access to a range of services, including assistance in locating identity documents, improving access to licensing services, providing access to computers, and access to registered and roadworthy vehicles to be used for practical driving tests.
Officer in Charge of Bamaga Station, Senior Sergeant Andrew Pool, said he hoped the recognition brought by the award would encourage other regions to work on similar programs.
"The NPA Licensing Muster has had a positive and measurable impact on our local communities, and we are proud to have been recognised for our work on the program with our partner agencies," he said.
"Our hope is that this model can be used as a template for other regions, empowering members of remote communities to attain required licenses and diverting them from unnecessary involvement in the justice system.
"Anything we can do to prevent crime, including addressing the root causes of offending, is of benefit not only to police, but also to the wider community."
The Muster has had significant impacts in the area, with over $25,000 raised to assist in licensing and registration fees, more than 200 applications for identification documents, and over 50 participants assisted in attaining their learner or provisional driver license.
97 per cent of participants in the program identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, and over 15 per cent of the NPA population eligible for licensing have been assisted through the Muster.
The program recently procured a vehicle to enable the establishment of a learner driver program to assist new drivers with access to a registered and roadworthy vehicle to practice in, and will work with local schools to provide supervisory drivers to attain the required 100 hours of supervised driving practice.
The Muster concept is also being rolled out to the Torres Strait Islands, where it will be known as the Zenadth Kes Licence ID Drive, enabling a new generation of drivers to obtain their licenses and avoid licensing and driving-related offences.
