With Australia's prison bill soaring beyond $6.8 billion per year for adults and another $1 billion for youth detention centres, leaders from the adult and children's justice sectors, First Nations-community controlled and led organisations, researchers and people with lived experience have gathered in Mparntwe/Alice Springs to drive momentum for evidence-based reforms that improve community safety while reducing the number of people in prison.
The 2025 Reintegration Puzzle Conference on 25-26 June brings together more than 350 people from Australia and overseas to explore innovative approaches to justice and foster collaborations aimed at building more supportive pathways away from the criminal justice system, with a particular focus on returning to the community after prison.
The program includes a keynote address from First Nations Children's Commissioners from around Australia, as well as presentations from recognised experts and leaders of community-led programs around the country which have successfully driven down crime rates.
The sold-out conference, now in its 18th year, is being hosted by the Justice Reform Initiative – a national multi-partisan alliance of people committed to reducing Australia's harmful and costly reliance on incarceration.
Event chair Justice Reform Initiative Executive Director Dr Mindy Sotiri said the summit was an opportunity to share thinking about how to build pathways outside of the criminal justice system and disrupt the revolving door of the criminal justice system.
"It's clear that jailing is failing, and yet it is too often a default policy response to both crime and to disadvantage," she said. "All of the evidence shows that prisons don't work to make communities safer, they don't work to prevent reoffending, and they also cause great harm."
"This conference represents the strong and diverse range of experience and expertise that policymakers can and should draw upon instead of resorting to failed 'tough on crime' rhetoric and increasingly punitive legislation. We have the answers to what works – it's time to take a smarter approach."
Catherine Liddle, who will speak at the conference as CEO of SNAICC, the national voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, said the alarming increase in First Nations children in watchhouses and prisons around the country was a clarion call for policymakers to rethink their policies.
"Criminalising children and locking them up does not address youth crime rates or result in safer communities," Ms Liddle said. "The evidence is very clear that the younger a child is when they are locked up, the more likely it is that they will have ongoing criminal justice system involvement.
"Too often we are imprisoning children instead of providing the supports that are needed in the community. We need investment in early intervention, prevention and diversion programs that are proven to interrupt the cycle of crime and imprisonment. This is where we need policymakers to focus and invest – not on hiring more police or building more cells."
Tyson Carmody, founder and managing director of Kings Narrative who will also speak at the conference, said a more holistic approach to people at risk of entering or leaving prison would achieve greater impact and support communities better than pushing through 'tougher' laws.
"With the high rates of incarceration of Aboriginal adults and young people, the 'tough on crime' approach feels too much like a 'tough on Aboriginal people' approach, which further perpetuates ongoing negative stereotypes labelled onto Aboriginal people," he said.
"We know the solutions we seek lie within the oldest living culture, not in punitive policies that don't align with available evidence. There is plenty of work to be done, I urge all levels of government to change their responses to achieve the outcomes our communities so desperately need."
Justice Reform Initiative chair Robert Tickner said the conference presented a moment for voices from across the political spectrum to unite and strengthen the movement for change.
"The Northern Territory's incarceration rate is now reported to be the second highest in the world behind El Salvador and, almost unbelievably, governments in other parts of the country appear to be racing to catch up," he said.
"All Australians deserve live in communities that are safe, but the persistent policy reliance on punitive measures is not only failing but actively exacerbating the very problems it seeks to solve.
"Instead of throwing taxpayers' dollars into getting 'tough on crime', we need to get tough on the causes of crime. We need to look outside of prison and policing, with real investments in services and critical support like housing, health, and educational and employment opportunities. We need to stop imprisoning disadvantage and start addressing it in the community."
The Justice Reform Initiative is calling for urgent investment in evidence-based alternatives to incarceration, including diversion programs, community-based supports, and First Nations place-based strategies that have been shown to reduce offending and improve community safety.
