Just Reinvest NSW

28/10/2026

Welcoming our friend Ian Brown as the new CEO for Just Reinvest NSW. A Gomeroi man from Moree Ian’s experience spans Aboriginal community-led initiatives, the not-for-profit sector and NSW Government, where he has worked to strengthen Aboriginal participation in decision-making. Mr Brown also brings extensive experience advocating for Aboriginal rights, community authority and self-determination at both community and national levels.

As our Chair Blake Alan Cansdale said yesterday: “We’re very pleased to announce Ian Brown as the new CEO that will lead the next phase of justice reinvestment’s development in New South Wales."

“I am honoured to lead an Aboriginal-led organisation that has shown what justice reinvestment can achieve in our communities,” said Ian. “The root causes of overincarceration are largely systemic, and so are the solutions. Place-based, community-led and data-driven justice reinvestment, supported by collaborative leadership with government can redirect resources towards prevention, early intervention, and Aboriginal self- determination.”

Before his appointment, Ian was JRNSW’s Head of Advocacy and Engagement. He led JRNSW’s strategic advocacy, government relations, and partnerships with Aboriginal communities. His work focused on removing systemic barriers, influencing policy reform, and securing sustained investment in community-led justice reinvestment. In addition to his work at Just Reinvest NSW, he has also been directly involved in the justice reinvestment community-led initiative in his home community of Moree.

Ian previously held senior roles in the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, where he supported Closing the Gap reforms and advancing Indigenous Data Sovereignty and governance across NSW.

23/09/2026

How much does Aboriginal overrepresentation in the NSW criminal justice system cost government?

A new report from the Just Reinvest Data Hub, Held at a Cost, estimates it was at least $718 million in 2024–25. That cost has risen 41.7 percent since 2020–21.

Most of it, 77.1 percent, is prisons. A day in adult prison costs $318.66, compared with $22.59 for a day of supervision in the community. A day in youth detention costs $2,573.26.

Aboriginal adults in NSW are imprisoned at 15.1 times the rate of non-Aboriginal adults. For young people aged 10 to 17, it is 16.5 times. NSW has committed under Closing the Gap to reducing both, and the numbers are still going up.

The figure is conservative. It does not include policing, child protection or the wider cost to families and communities.
Justice reinvestment is about moving these resources towards the community-led work that keeps Aboriginal people out of the justice system in the first place.

'We can do better, and we must do better,' said Geoff Scott, CEO of Just Reinvest NSW. The cost is a measure of the resources spent on a pattern that governments have committed to ending under Closing the Gap. Justice reinvestment asks where those resources could do more, through community-led work designed and delivered by Aboriginal communities.

Read the report: https://www.justreinvest.org.au/datahub-research/

17/09/2026

Looks like a nice evening in Moree and plenty of 🏉

28/08/2026

The Just Reinvest Data Hub at Just Reinvest NSW has put together Community Profile Posters for Bathurst Regional, Bourke, Cowra, Kempsey, Moree Plains, Mount Druitt and Nowra, plus one for all of NSW. Each poster uses figures from Australian Bureau of Statistics and the 2021 Census to paint a picture of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities — population size and age, how things are going at school and work, how people are living, and health and wellbeing.

In Moree Plains, the numbers tell a story of strength as much as struggle. Almost 1 in 3 preschoolers are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander — a young community that keeps growing. 62.4% report no long-term health condition, higher than the wider area's 50.7%. And 15.3% hold a trade certificate, right on par with the rest of Moree Plains.

Where the gap shows up is opportunity, not potential: Aboriginal unemployment in Moree Plains sits at 3.4 times the rate of the wider area. That's not a community falling short — it's a system that hasn't caught up with what the community is already doing right.

That's why Moree - Just Reinvest NSW works directly with the community on the ground — bringing local voices into the room where decisions about health, education, housing and justice are made and backing the community-led solutions that are already working. Justice reinvestment isn't a program done to a community; it's a community's own priorities, resourced properly and given the time to work.

The posters will be updated with 2026 Census data as soon as it's available.

Click on the Moree Community Profile poster here: https://www.justreinvest.org.au/community-profile-posters/

20/08/2026

Come celebrate the spirit of Yuwa Nyinda! 💜
Join us this Wednesday 26 August, 5-8pm at Kempsey Racecourse for our Community Connection Night.

Enjoy live music, free food and plenty of fun with community. Entry is completely FREE and everyone is welcome! 🙌
No registration needed, just pop along!
No alcohol or drugs are permitted.

See you there!

20/08/2026

The Aboriginal Outcomes Teams will be joining the Yuwa Nyinda Dream Academy on Wednesday and Thursday next week, and they’re bringing representatives from around seven different sporting codes, including basketball, gymnastics, swimming and more.

This is a real chance to get everyone in the same room and have an honest, practical conversation about what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change with the intention to map out how the NSW Office of Sport can back local clubs to grow.

And it’s not just about the usual codes. Yes, we want to strengthen sports like football, soccer and netball but we also want to grow opportunities in a wider range of sports for our kids, young people and families right across the Macleay Valley.

If you are interested in Sports across the Macleay Valley, don't forget to register.

21/07/2026

Getting them ready is just as important as getting them there!

15/07/2026

Sounds like it was an amazing event, turning of the first sod of the first Aboriginal Child and Family Centre in Bourke! Congratulations Maranguka - great to see self determination in action!

07/07/2026

07/07/2026

50 Years of Deadly

This NAIDOC Week marks fifty years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, advocacy, and cultural strength. Since 1976, NAIDOC Week has provided a platform for truth-telling, celebration, and resistance — shaped by generations of Elders, organisers, and communities who refused to be silenced.

At Just Reinvest NSW, we take this milestone as an opportunity to reflect on the progress made and the work still ahead. Our approach is grounded in the same principle that has underpinned NAIDOC Week for five decades: that Aboriginal communities are best placed to lead solutions for their own future.

It is also a reminder that continuing overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system in NSW is not inevitable — it is the outcome of policy decisions, and it can be addressed through community-led, evidence-based alternatives.