Cake, footy and culture: The first person graduates from Youth Koori Court

At the Paramatta Youth Koori Court the answer is usually straightforward, and at the Surrey Hills location it's usually Rabbitohs, but in Dubbo the answer isn't always guaranteed.

Youth Koori Court magistrate Sue Duncombe said football played a large part in the court.

When the first young person graduated from the Youth Koori Court in Dubbo this month they were presented with an Indigenous All Stars NRL jersey as part of their gifts.

They were also given a decorated boomerang and a plaque with their name.

"It's something they can keep. As I've said to them, I hope when you pass that artefact...you look at that and think about your achievements and the changes that you made," Magistrate Duncombe said.

The graduation is a celebration.

"The young person was presented with a cake, in this case baked by another young person in the Koori court process," Magistrate Duncombe said.

"But what was really interesting is that we were in the middle of the review process and the cake maker came bouncing in, which is what he does. He couldn't, wait, he came rushing in and plunked it down like 'ta da, how good is this?' It was really terrific and it sort of interrupted to proceedings, but in a good way."

The Youth Koori Court opened in Dubbo in March 2023. It's only the third of its kind in NSW, and the first in a regional location.

The Youth Koori Court has the same powers as the Children's Court. However, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people who have pleaded guilty to an offence, they are guided by local elders in developing an action and support plan.

The goals outlined in the action and support plan need to be fulfilled for them to graduate from the court.

"Routinely in Dubbo, but elsewhere as well, we start off slow. Some of these young people are extremely high needs. They come from a very high trauma background and they're a bit nervous about committing too much. So we start slowly and we can add to the plans as we move along," Magistrate Duncombe said.

"Then we meet and review every two weeks or every four weeks depending on the needs of the young people."

The court is different from circle sentencing. The elders support the young person, but because children are involved, the magistrate retains the responsibility for the sentencing.

"It's generally perceived that elders would prefer not to be responsible for sending a young person into custody. They would prefer not to be responsible for those decisions, and because the law doesn't allow for it at the moment," Magistrate Duncombe said.

Generally, Magistrate Duncombe aims for a graduation in the first six to 12 months of the Youth Koori Court.

It's not enough to have someone do well for six weeks, she said, it needed to be a sustained changed in behaviour.

"This young person [who graduated on November 10] was special in that he hadn't reoffended for more than a year by the time we graduated him. When he came to Koori Court he hadn't offended for six or seven months...but he only just pleaded guilty to the offence," Magistrate Duncombe said.

The young man had found a job, had stable accommodate and had put distance between the offending.

"All the protective factors were stable enough for us to say, 'you've done well'," Magistrate Duncombe said.

"The prosecutor was very effusive as well and about how good it is to see somebody doing so well. This young man had been a risk to the community for a while. He had offended quite a bit but then suddenly stopped.

"Part of it was because he was 18 soon. I think that was probably something that was important to recognise for him. He didn't want to be in adult custody and that was a big incentive."

Magistrate Duncombe said she was not a "mate" to those in the program - in Dubbo there are now 12 participants - but through the frequent court appearances she saw them grow.

"I see them from a time when they're really quiet to a time when they're speaking on their own behalf, not through a lawyer. The aim is really for them to start trusting the process enough to just speak," she said.

"This young man, at the beginning I think he was quite shy, but as we progressed, he spoke really openly and very well."

Magistrate Duncombe said the young person was also willing to engage in the cultural supports available. He's one of four young people who painted the artwork that will hang in the court.

"The young people really value the opportunity to work with their elders. That's one of the major benefits of the Koori court, that it's culturally appropriate," Magistrate Duncombe said.

"It's probably taken our communities a long time to understand the concept of self-governence. And this is not self-governence, but it's recognising that people of particular cultures work better with people within their own culture."

A focus of the Youth Koori Court is providing support to the young people.

For the last two years, the office of the Advocate for Children and Young People NSW provided the Youth Koori Court with a $5000 grant. As well as the money being used to buy the gifts for the graduates, which are presented on behalf of the elders, it's also used to help the young people if they need something like clothes or emergency accommodation.

Magistrate Duncombe said it was a "really productive and really personal intervention". It allowed the court to be a hub for young people to get access to services that hadn't been able to access.

It all plays a role in the rehabilitation of the young people.

"Courts at our core in terms of our legislative imperative, should be promoting rehabilitation of young people. That is one of our principles called section 6 principals. So promoting the rehabilitation of them, keeping them in the community wherever possible, for me, it's serving the legislative purpose of the children's court," Magistrate Duncombe said.

"But also the community purpose. It's just being humane. It's recognising the trauma that non-Aboriginal people have inflicted on Aboriginal people since 1788."

It's a program Magistrate Duncombe wishes was available to all children, not only Aboriginal offenders.

"It's a therapeutic process because most children who reoffend have a need and let's fix the need rather than punish the kid," she said.

"There is an element of punishment, of course it has to be - this is not shoplifting these young people are doing, so they need to be held accountable - but if we can support them so the community is safer into the future than that's a better goal than punishing them to come out resentful."

However, the court acknowledges the trauma often faced by the young people in the criminal justice system.

Magistrate Duncombe said in Dubbo, but also across the board at Youth Koori Court, there was a large number of participants who were in out-of-home care.

She said some of the young people were very traumatised, and that could have started in utero, be it from domestic violence, drugs or alcohol.

When dealing with that trauma, there's not always a positive outcome.

In the same month Dubbo Youth Koori Court is celebrating its first graduation, two young people have also been taken into custody.

"There's a lot of sadness about that," Magistrate Duncombe said.

Since the first Youth Koori Court opened in Parramatta in 2015 one of the best outcomes has been a surprise. Magistrate Duncombe described it as "probably the most unexpected but one of the greatest benefits".

There have been 15 babies born of Youth Koori Court participants that were not removed from their parents' care. Before taking part in the Koori Court, Magistrate Duncombe said you would have looked at the mum or the dad's history and would say the child would not have been safe.

There's also a financial imperative to the Youth Koori Court.

A study by Inside Policy for the NSW Department of Communities and Justice in 2022 found that for every dollar spent on the court there was a $2 return for the community.

Of course for Magistrate Duncombe, it's not about the finances. Her and Daniel Daylight - who worked on the development of the Youth Koori Court - agreed if just one person was helped they would see it as a success.

"The best part is when we see that shift, maybe at graduation, but hopefully before that, when a young person starts to change, starts to open up a bit, starts to accept supports. I think it's a wonderful process. I could do it every day of my life," she said.

The next graduation is expected in February or March.